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.
Aim : This study describes the multidimensional health-related issues of HIV-positive patients.
Settings and Design : 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.
Materials and 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 < 0.001), pain ( P < 0.001); clinical class ( P < 0.001); tuberculosis, and problems in job and household work ( P = 0.002).
Conclusion : Many patients have significant problems in dimensions other than physical. A physician′s awareness about these problems is important for a holistic patient management.