Abstract
BackgroundDepression and anxiety disorders are common among people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus than the non-infected individuals. The co-existence of these disorders are associated with barriers to treatment and worsening medical outcomes, including treatment resistance, increased risk for suicide, greater chance for recurrence and utilization of medical resources and/or increase morbidity and mortality. Therefore, assessing depression and anxiety among HIV patients has a pivotal role for further interventions.MethodsInstitution based cross-sectional study was conducted at ALERT hospital May, 2015. Data were collected using a pretested, structured and standardized questionnaire. Systematic sampling technique was used to select the study participants. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify associated factors. Odds ratio with 95 % CI was computed to assess the strength of associations.ResultsThe prevalence of co-morbid depression and anxiety among HIV patients was 24.5 % and prevalence of depression and anxiety among HIV patients was 41.2 % (172) and 32.4 % (135) respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that individual who had perceived HIV stigma (AOR = 3.60, 95 % CI (2.23, 5.80), poor social support (AOR = 2.02, 95 % CI (1.25, 3.27), HIV stage III (AOR = 2.80, 95 % CI (1.50, 5.21) and poor medication adherence (AOR = 1.61, 95 % CI (1.02, 2.55) were significantly associated with depression. Being female (AOR = 3.13, 95 % CI (1.80, 5.44), being divorced (AOR = 2.51, 95 % CI (1.26, 5.00), having co morbid TB (AOR = 2.74, 95 % CI (1.37, 5.47) and perceived HIV stigma (AOR = 4.00, 95 % CI (2.40, 6.69) were also significantly associated with anxiety.ConclusionPrevalence of depression and anxiety was high. Having perceived HIV stigma, HIV Stage III, poor social support and poor medication adherence were associated with depression. Whereas being female, being divorced and having co morbid TB and perceived HIV stigma were associated with anxiety. Ministry of health should give training on how to screen anxiety and depression among HIV patients and should develop guidelines to screen and treat depression and anxiety among HIV patients.
Highlights
Depression and anxiety disorders are common among people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus than the non-infected individuals
Currently, global statistics shows that an estimated 35 million people were living with HIV/AIDS in 2013, of which 24.7 million are living in Sub-Saharan Africa and 1.6 million people died related to AIDS [1]
This study revealed that the prevalence of co-morbid depression and anxiety was 24.5 %
Summary
Depression and anxiety disorders are common among people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus than the non-infected individuals. Assessing depression and anxiety among HIV patients has a pivotal role for further interventions. In 2012 estimation, 9.5 million people in developing countries were receiving HIV treatment [2]. There is a significant psychological impact imposed among HIV/AIDS patients. People with HIV often suffer from depression and anxiety as they adjust to the impact of the diagnosis of being infected and face the difficulties like shortened life expectancy, complicated therapeutic regimens, stigmatization, and loss of social and family support. HIV infection can be associated with high risk of suicide [3,4,5]
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