Health related quality of life of people receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy in Southwest Ethiopia.

Addisu Desta,Tessema Tsehay Biru,Adane Teshome Kefale,Haikel A Lim

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0237013

Addisu Desta, Tessema Tsehay Biru + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237013

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Abstract

Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) is a standard of HIV management to suppress viral load and delay progression to AIDS. However, questions have been raised about the use of antiretroviral therapy and how it affects quality of life (QoL) of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The study hence aimed to assess the QoL of PLWHA who were taking HAART at Mizan-Tepi University Teaching Hospital (MTUTH) and identify factors associated with QoL. A cross sectional study was conducted among PLWHA receiving HAART at MTUTH from March 04-April 1, 2018. Patients were recruited consecutively and interviewed with structured questionnaire. A data abstraction tool was used to extract data from patient medical records. Quality of life was assessed using the World Health Organization Quality of Life HIV- BREF (WHOQOL-HIV-BREF) standard tool. Data was entered to Epi-Info version 3.5.3 and analyzed using SPSS version 22 for windows. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was fitted to identify factors associated with QoL. A statistical significance was established at a p value <0.05. A total of 240 participants with the mean age of 35.11 (SD = 9.08) years were included in the study. This study found that 57.1% of the patients had high global score of QoL. Patients with normal current health (AOR = 3.38, 95% CI = 1.56-7.31)) and having family support (AOR = 3.12, 95% CI = 1.51-6.46) were positively associated with high global score of QoL, while patients with low HAART adherence (AOR = 0.40, 95%, CI = 0.19-0.86) were negatively associated with high global score of QoL. The study revealed that more than half of the participants had high global score of QoL. Normal current health and family support were associated with better global score of QoL, while low HAART adherence was found to be associated with the lower global score of QoL.

Highlights

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) primary affects the immune system that predisposes the victim to multiple opportunistic diseases leading to Acquired Immuno-deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) [1]
Questions have been raised about the use of antiretroviral therapy and how it affects quality of life (QoL) of people living with HIV/ AIDS (PLWHA)
The study aimed to assess the QoL of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) who were taking Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) at Mizan–Tepi University Teaching Hospital (MTUTH) and identify factors associated with QoL

Summary

Introduction

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) primary affects the immune system that predisposes the victim to multiple opportunistic diseases leading to Acquired Immuno-deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) [1]. Retroviral Therapy (HAART) was a major turning point in HIV care It uses a combination of antiretroviral medication recommended to aggressively suppress viral replication and halt progress of HIV to AIDS, a subsequent improvement in survival and quality of life (QoL) [5,6,7,8]. There are concerns about impact of HAART on the QoL of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), where it is influenced by multiple factors [9,10,11]. Questions have been raised about the use of antiretroviral therapy and how it affects quality of life (QoL) of people living with HIV/ AIDS (PLWHA). The study aimed to assess the QoL of PLWHA who were taking HAART at Mizan–Tepi University Teaching Hospital (MTUTH) and identify factors associated with QoL

Methods

Results

Conclusion