Anxiety Levels of People Living with HIV and Problems in Accessing Healthcare Services and Drugs During the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Since its emergence in December 2019, COVID-19 has caused severe morbidity and mortality. Access to healthcare services for individuals with chronic diseases including people living with HIV was disrupted due to many factors such as the density in hospitals and social closure strategies to stop the spread of the pandemic. The aim of this study was to determine whether HIV status and social and medical problems faced by people living with HIV caused anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: Between October 2021 and February 2022, the Beck anxiety scale and a 16-item questionnaire including questions on demographic information was completed by 100 people living with HIV who visited our Çukurova University Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology outpatient clinic and gave consent to be included in the study. Results: Overall, 93 (93%) participants were male and seven (7%) were female, with a mean age of 36 ± 10 years. Among all participants, 44% reported a decrease in their general quality of life, 42.4% reported an increase in the level of anxiety, 33% reported a decrease in access to resources such as money and food, and 13% reported that they had difficulty in paying the rent of their own house. During the pandemic, 11.3% of the participants lost their jobs and 9.1% lost their health insurance;8.1% reported that they became homeless and moved to live with someone else. Access to antiretroviral treatment decreased in 7.2% of the participants, the number of hospital visits were reduced in 33.3%, and 26% reported a reduction in monitoring tests such as HIV RNA. The mean Beck anxiety score, which was used to evaluate the patients' anxiety level, was 12.32 ± 12.35 (min-max= 0-54) and suggested mild anxiety symptoms. Conclusion: The difficulties and problems in the daily lives of individuals living with HIV have deepened with the COVID-19 pandemic. The data we obtained in our study helps us understand the difficulties and anxiety levels of people living with HIV in receiving healthcare.