Cross-sectional study finds joint pain correlates with frailty, depression, and loneliness in midlife women with and without HIV, highlighting targets to improve overall quality of life.
Joint pain is among the most common and disabling forms of chronic pain in women. Whether joint pain is more prevalent among women with versus without HIV (WWH/WWoH) and contributes to greater impairment is unknown. The Pain, Enjoyment, and General Activity instrument assessed joint pain in midlife WWH versus WWoH to determine associations with frailty, loneliness, and depressive/anxiety symptoms. Moderate/severe pain was more commonly reported in WWH than WWoH (44.1 vs. 38.3%) but not significantly. Women with moderate/severe joint pain were more likely to be prefrail/frail (aOR 3.05; confidence interval [CI]: 1.65–5.63) and report greater depressive symptomology (aOR 2.42; CI: 1.31–4.47), anxiety (aOR 3.38; CI: 1.53–7.43), and loneliness (aOR 1.84; CI: 1.02–3.29). Joint pain is highly prevalent in mid-life WWH and WWoH and associated with frailty, depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Identifying and addressing joint pain and associated conditions may improve multiple health domains in midlife women with and without HIV.
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Ross et al. (2026) studied this question.
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