Quality of life of People Living with HIV Compared with that of the General Population in Turkey: A Cross Sectional Study

Objective: The aim of this study is to identify health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of people living with HIV(PLWH) in Turkey and to determine the sociodemographic and clinical data affecting HRQOL. Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted between August 2019 and March 2020 on PLWH. This study was carried out with the participation of PLWH treated and followed up in a 3rd level hospital in Turkey. 82 patients followed up at the Department Infectious Diseases agreed to participate. Research team consisted of a psychiatrist and infectious disease specialists. All participants were aged 18 years or older, and provided written informed consent. Sociodemographic and Clinical Data Form, Mini-Mental Test, The 36-Item Short Form Health Survey questionnaire (SF-36) were applied to subjects who agreed to participate. Also, data on CD4+ T helper cell and HIV RNA counts were collected. The values from the present study were compared with the published general Turkish values. Univariate analysis was performed to identify the independent factors associated with the HRQOL of PLWH. Results: Overall, there were 82 participants, 91.4% of whom were male. The mean age was 41.28 +/- 12.90 years, with a mean HIV positivity duration of 4.80 +/- 3.36 years. In the study, only 3 (3.7%) people had a CD4+ T helper cell count below 200. 74 PLWH (90.2%) was receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) treatment while 8 PLWH (9.8%) were not receiving the treatment. The scores of SF-36 role physical (RP) (t=-5,041; p<0,001), role emotional (RE) (t=-8,175;p<0,001), mental health (MH) (t=-3,982; p<0,001) , social functioning (SF) (t=-7,115; p<0,001) and general health (GH) (t=-9,552; p<0,001) subscales were found to be statistically significantly lower than the Turkish norm values. It was determined that smoking status [(RP (x(2) =4.905, p=0.027); RE(x(2)= 3.923, p=0.048)] , substance use [(PF(x(2)= 4.070, p= 0,044); RP(x(2) = 7,578, p= 0.006); RE (x(2)= 5.168, p= 0.023), duration of HIV positivity [(VT(x(2)= 6.558, p=0.01); MH(x(2)=6.973, p=0.008)] less than 3 years and presence of secondary complications [(PF(x(2)= 3.947, p= 0.047)] negatively affected HRQOL and there was an increased risk for poor HRQOL in these individuals. A negative correlation was shown between viral load and SF, BP, GH. Conclusion: In conclusion, this study is the first to compare the quality of life between PLWHs and the general population in Turkey and examine sociodemographic and clinical data that affect quality of life. Lower scores were obtained in all subscales of SF-36 in PLWH compared to the population norm. Smoking, substance use, duration of HIV positivity, and the presence of secondary complications caused a significant difference in some subscales of SF-36 compared to population norms and a certain risk increase in quality of life. It has been shown that the increase in viral load also negatively affects HRQOL.