Impact of HIV/AIDS on quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS in Chitradurga district, Karnataka.

ABSTRACT

Background: HIV/AIDS is fatal illness which leaves the victim vulnerable. Quality of life in individuals living with HIV/AIDS is becoming crucial for measuring commonly used endpoints. The study of psychosocial factors also influences the health outcome of People Living with HIV/AIDS. Aim: To assess the Quality of life of PLHA in relation to various socio-demographic and clinical correlates. Setting and Design: A community care center in Chitradurga district and it is a Cross sectional study. Methods and Materials About 395 PLHAs registered in the centre constituted the sample. WHOQOL - 120 instrument was used for assessing quality of life. The socio demographic factors were also obtained in pre designed proforma. Statistical Analysis Used Proportions, Mean, Std deviation, One way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Results and Conclusion: The Quality of Life scores for all domains were intermediate for the PLHAs between (10 - 14). The mean scores were highest for psychological domain. There was a significant difference in QOL of PLHA who were on ART and Not on ART in some domains. PLHAs who were literates, married, Single, employed, income more than 1500 not on ART, CD4 count more than 200, earlier stages of HIV, living with spouse and students had high mean scores. Mean difference of QOL scores with duration of ART intake were statistically significant in psychological and Spirituality domains. QOL was found to be determined by education, income, occupation, ART status, duration of taking ART and clinical categories of the disease.