title: Validity of the Quality of Well-Being Scale for persons with human immunodeficiency virus infection. HNRC Group. HIV Neurobehavioral Research Center.
abstract: To evaluate the validity of the Quality of Well-Being Scale (QWB) for studies of patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease, 514 men were studied who were divided among four categories: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Group A (N = 272), CDC-B (N = 81), CDC-C (N = 47), and uninfected male controls (N = 114). The QWB and a variety of medical, neuropsychological, and biochemical measures were administered to all participants. When QWB scores were broken down by HIV group, the CDC-C group was significantly lower (.614) than the CDC-B (.679), CDC-A (.754), or control group (.801). The difference between Groups CDC-C and CDC-A was about .14 units of well-being, which suggests that individuals lose 1/7 equivalents of 1 well year of life for each year they are in Group CDC-C in comparison to the asymptomatic group (Group CDC-A). In comparison to the controls, this would equal a 1-year of life loss for each seven infected individuals. The QWB was shown to be significantly associated with CD4+ lymphocytes (p < .001), clinician ratings of neuropsychological impairment (p < .04), neurologists ratings of dysfunction (p < .001), and all subscales of the Profile of Mood States. Baseline QWB scores were significant prospective predictors of death over a median follow-up time of 30 months. Multivariate models demonstrated high covariation between predictors of QWB. It was concluded that the QWB is a significant correlate of biological, neuropsychological, neurological, psychiatric, and mortality outcomes for male HIV-infected patients.
authors.affiliation: Naval Hospital, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: T L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Patterson
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: McCutchan
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Weinrich
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Heaton
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Atkinson
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Thal
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chandler
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Grant
mesh_terms: D015526:AIDS Dementia Complex / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000145:classification / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012803:Sick Role; D016019:Survival Analysis