Associations of Quality of Life with Treatment Burden, Treatment Quality, and Antiretroviral Therapy Process in HIV Patients in Uganda

Abstract

Objective: Quality of life (QOL) assessments may provide insight into early phase clinical trial experiences for HIV patients. The aim of this study was to assess the association between QOL and treatment burden, treatment quality, and ART process. Method: The WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire was used to assess the QOL of 263 HIV ART patients in Uganda. Logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the association between association of demographic factors, ART process, and treatment burden with treatment quality; contribution of demographic factors and treatment quality on QOL; and association between ART process and QOL. Results: Data from 263 participants were analyzed (urban: 5.70%, semi-urban: 37.26%, rural: 57.03%). 67.30% of them were females. Their mean age was 39.82 (standard deviation=9.76) ranging from 22 to 81 years. Multiple logistic regressions reported statistically significant association of quality of the services, advice, manners, and counseling with distance, statistically significant association between manners quality and four domain QOLs, and statistically significant association between TASO member and domain QOLs. Conclusions: QOL of HIV patients might be improved by promoting medical quality and optimizing ART process in the provider's practice. Findings have important implications for the redesign of clinical guidelines and healthcare delivery, highlighting issues such as the importance of good care co-ordination. Funding Statement: The author states: Not applicable. Declaration of Interests: The author declared no potential conflict of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article. Ethics Approval Statement: The author states: Not applicable.