Health related quality of life among the people living with HIV

Identifying the level of health related quality of life (HQoL) and their influencing factors in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive people is of extreme importance in implementing an interventional program to support this group. This cross sectional study was an attempt to determine the level and factors associated with HQoL among the people living with HIV. A convenient sample of 82 HIV-infected people from three NGOs and one Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), were interviewed using an interviewer administered, semi structured questionnaire developed by adopting the "WHOQOL-HIV BREF instrument". A majority of the respondents were with low Quality of Life (QoL) in all the domains of HQoL. The proportion of respondents with low QoL was highest in the domain of social relationship (64.6%) followed by psychological domain (59.8%), physical domain (58.5%), level of independence domain (56.1%), environmental domain (52.4%) and spirituality domain (52.4%) of HQoL. Bivariate analysis revealed that the overall perception of QoL was better in the respondents living in urban area, who were employed and asymptomatic of the centre for disease control (CDC) stage of HIV. The perception of overall health was higher in females, all respondents less than 35 years of age, asymptomatic of the CDC stage of disease and with a current CD4 count greater than 200 cell/mm3. These findings highlight the need for enhanced socio-psychosocial support and a better environment for improving the health related quality of life among people living with HIV.