Health-related quality of life among adult HIV positive patients: assessing comprehensive themes and interrelated associations.

Abstract

Findings from 170 (response rate 68%) patients (Male = 159, 94.1%) showed that questionnaires had high internal consistency, and most themes significantly correlated (r's .21 to - .69, p < .05) in the expected directions. Exploring cut-off scores shows that a significant proportion of patients score outside of the desired range on single themes (between 16.0 and 73.1%), and many patients on multiple themes simultaneously (8.9% on 5 or more themes). Regression analysis showed that social support, self-esteem and sexuality problems were associated with general health (R = .48, R2 = .23, F(4,145) = 10.57, p < .001); adding anxiety and depression, sleeping difficulties and perceived side-effects explained 51.2% of the variance in total (R = .72, ∆R2 = .29, F(3, 142) = 27.82, p < .001).