Greater emotional distress is associated with accelerated CD4+ cell decline in HIV infection.
An investigation was conducted to explore the relationship between emotional distress and HIV progression. One hundred twenty-five homosexual, HIV-positive males participated in a 12-month longitudinal investigation. Psychosocial data were collected at 6-month intervals and CD4+ data were collected from diagnosis to the end of the investigation. Principal component analyses were performed initially to identify factors of emotional distress and health status. In addition, CD4+ reliability assessments were performed to ensure the validity of the prognostic assessments made. As a result of these analyses, 47 individuals were eligible for the main analyses. The results from a stepwise regression revealed that disease progression was significantly predicted by CD4+ count at diagnosis (32% of variance) and emotional distress (17% of variance), but was unrelated to subjective perceptions of health. The data suggest that some of the variability in HIV progression can be attributed to emotional distress.
Vedhara
K
K
Department of Psychology, University of Bristol, UK. K.Vedhara@Bristol.ac.uk
Nott
K H
KH
Bradbeer
C S
CS
Davidson
E A
EA
Ong
E L
EL
Snow
M H
MH
Palmer
D
D
Nayagam
A T
AT
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000523:psychology*; D006304:Health Status; D018451:Homosexuality, Male; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*