Cortisol Serum Levels and Correlation with the Level of Depression in Hiv Patients During the Covid-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic leads to serious and has the potential impact on the community's mental health, such as depression among the common people and people living with HIV (PLWH). The negative stress life events occur due to the correlation between biological vulnerability and psychosocial impacts. This correlation leads to depression. In this case, the HPA-axis may involve in pathogenic depression. The same matter goes for the correlation between Cortisol serum levels and the depression level of HIV patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. To analyze the Cortisol serum levels and the correlation between Cortisol serum levels and the depression level of HIV patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study design was cross-sectional with a consecutive sampling method. The bivariate analysis used Kendall's Tau test since the data were not normally distributed (<0.05). Sixty-two respondents were included in the study. The laboratory analysis showed the Cortisol serum level average of 152.03 ng/ml ± 123,237 ng/ml with a minimum value of 26 ng/ml and a maximum value of 336 ng/ml. The average depression level was 34,65 ± 4,9333 with a minimum value of 26 and a maximum value of 44. The results indicated a significant correlation between the Cortisol serum levels and the level of depression of HIV patients during COVID-19 (p < 0.05;r0.280). There was a correlation between Cortisol serum levels and the depression level of HIV patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.