Social network, social support and the rate of decline of CD4 lymphocytes in asymptomatic HIV-positive homosexual men.
OBJECTIVE
To test a stress-disease hypothesis by investigating the influence of social network and social support factors on the course over time of the CD4 lymphocytes in an HIV-positive population of gay men.


METHODS
The study is a prospective cohort study of a representative population of HIV-positive gay men, undertaken at the Department of Infectious Diseases, Malmö University Hospital. This is the only clinic providing care for HIV-positive individuals in the city of Malmö in southern Sweden (population 248,000). A total of 115 HIV-positive homosexual men, who had not received an AIDS diagnosis, were invited to take part in the study. Seventy-five men (65%) accepted to be interviewed and 64 men (56%) fulfilled the inclusion criteria for the statistical analysis.


RESULTS
In a multivariate analysis adjustments were made for age, level of the first CD4 count and time since first contact with the clinic. Men with high family contact frequency had a longer half-life (20.3 years) of the CD4 lymphocyte count than men with a low family contact frequency (7.4 years) (p = 0.03). Men with high social participation also had a longer half-life of CD4 lymphocyte count (14.7 years), compared with men with low social participation (6.3 years, p = 0.10).


CONCLUSIONS
The findings of this study imply the importance of social support and social network factors as modifiers of the rate of decline of the CD4 lymphocyte level, which is an important prognostic marker of survival in HIV-positive homosexual men.
Persson
Leif
L
Department of Community Medicine, Lund University, Malmö University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden.
Ostergren
Per-Olof
PO
Hanson
Bertil S
BS
Lindgren
Anna
A
Naucler
Anders
A
D000328:Adult; D001727:Bisexuality; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000276:immunology* / Q000523:psychology; D018451:Homosexuality, Male; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012944:Social Support; D013548:Sweden