Environment and psychosocial factors are more important than clinical factors in determining quality of life of HIV-positive patients on antiretroviral therapy.

ABSTRACT

Assessing quality of life (QOL) outcome helps to show the effect of antiretroviral therapy (ART) on the subjective perception of its benefits among patients with HIV. A cross-sectional assessment of QOL, using the World Health Organization WHOQOL-HIV, on 204 HIV patients taking ART in western India showed patients with HIV on ART as having the best QOL score in the spiritual domain and the worst in the environment domain. Patients who are single, highly educated, of higher occupational status, with no HIV-positive children, not undergoing frequent hospital admissions, with access to a counsellor for support, who are not stigmatised or discriminated against due to HIV status, who do not have guilt or suicidal ideas, and who are theist, tend to have a better QOL, irrespective of their clinical condition or ART regimen. Patients' personal perceptions and feelings, societal support or stigma, and sociodemographic status have a more significant influence on QOL than clinical variables.