Multidimensional health status of HIV-infected outpatients at a tertiary care center in north India.
BACKGROUND
Quality of life (QOL) scores inform researchers acquainted with such tools about patients' perception of various domains of their health. The scores provide a useful denominator for clinical trials, especially in chronic diseases with therapeutic side effects, such as HIV. However, in clinical settings, there is a felt need of description of problems commonly perceived by patients.


OBJECTIVE
This study describes the multidimensional health-related issues of HIV-positive patients.


METHODS
Cross-sectional design with convenient sampling was used to recruit 138 HIV-positive patients at the outpatient section of the Department of Medicine of a tertiary care hospital in north India.


METHODS
A structured questionnaire was used to collect information about health-related problems. Identified problems were assessed using a Likert scale for severity.


RESULTS
Out of the 20 assessed problems, the patients reported positive for an average of 12.01 +/- 3.78 problems. The most prevalent problems were those related to emotions (98.6%), lack of energy (96.4%), and health perception (92.0%). The most distressing problems were 'feeling that health was not good' (77.5%) and 'health was bad' (75.4%). The number of problems reported was significantly related to weight loss ( P = 0.006) and clinical category ( P = 0.023). A significant correlation was observed between weight loss and problems in social activities ( P P P P = 0.002).


CONCLUSIONS
Many patients have significant problems in dimensions other than physical. A physician's awareness about these problems is important for a holistic patient management.
Wig
Naveet
N
Department of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. naveet_wig@yahoo.com
Sakhuja
Ankit
A
Agarwal
Sunil Kumar
SK
Khakha
Deepika C
DC
Mehta
Saurabh
S
Vajpayee
Madhu
M
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000523:psychology*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D011788:Quality of Life; D055815:Young Adult