ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the relationship between psychological distress and T lymphocyte counts in HIV/AIDS patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 102 HIV/AIDS patients were measured by symptom check list (SCL-90), self-rating depressive scale (SDS) and self-rating anxiety scale (SAS). Patients were divided into 2 groups based on CD4+ T lymphocyte counts < 0.2 x 10(9)/L (group A) and > or = 0.2 x 10(9)/L(group B).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>77 cases (75.49%) had psychological problems, including depression, relationship problems, psychosis, force etc. The prevalence of depression and anxiety were 67.65% (69/102) and 43.13% (44/102) respectively. The symptom of depression and anxiety of patients in group A were severer than those in group B (P < 0.05). The CD4+ T lymphocyte counts were significantly negatively correlated with the total score, depression score, paranoid score and psychosis score of SCL-90 (all P <0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Most of the HIV/AIDS patients were in an obviously abnormal psychological status. The psychological distress symptom of HIV/AIDS patients might had negative effects on the number of CD4+ T lymphocyte.</p>