Abstract:

Quality of life (QoL) refers to how well we live. Some people say the quality of life is about wealth and owning things, while others may define it in terms of physical, mental, and emotional well-being. A cross-sectional study on the quality of life of people living with HIV and AIDS attending ART-Clinic Calicut, a tertiary care unit in North Kerala where patients can check their CD4 count and get antiretroviral treatment free of cost. The study was conducted from over a period of 6 months with the help of two sets of questionnaires, part 1 to interview the subject on Socio-demography, Family details, Personal habits, Risk behavior, Disease-related details and part 2 for assessing quality of life by WHOQoL-HIV instrument. The sample size was calculated to be 310. The current study shows a good overall quality of life. The study shows a better score for the physical domain, psychological domain, independence domain, social relationship domain, and Environment domain but a lower score for spirituality/ religion/ personal belief domain. Social support given to PLHA was found to be an independent determinant that significantly improves Overall QoL and all its domains. The absence of HIV infection among children significantly improves all domains of QoL. The absence of opportunistic infection significantly improves all domains except the Physical domain which shows improvement but is not significant. All factors that improve Overall QoL were found to be improving all six domains of QoL.

References:

[1] WHO QOL-HIV Group. 2003. Preliminary development of the World Health Organization’s Quality of Life HIV Instrument (WHOQOL-HIV): analysis of the pilot version. Social Science and Medicine; 57: 1259–1275.

[2] International Institute for Population Sciences. 2007. National Family Health Survey-3 (2005-06).

[3] United Nations. 2001. Gender and HIV/AIDS (special session). 25-27 June 2001, New York.

[4] William C, Sarie Human, John A Rudo, Maria Rosa et al. 2009. Exploring HIV Stigma and quality of life for persons living with HIV infection. Journal of Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. 20(3):161-168.

[5] Subramanian T, Gupta MD, Dorairaj VS, Periaman V, Mathai AK. 2009. Psychosocial impact and quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS in Chennai, South India. AIDS CARE. 21(4):473-481.

[6] Census of India (2011). State wise data on literacy. Kerala Literacy Rate.

[7] Census of India (2011). Work participation of females. Census data, Kerala.

[8] KSACS. 2011. Summary Report. Behavioral Surveillance Survey, Kerala, India.

[9] NACO. 2006. Socioeconomic impact of HIV/AIDS in India. Study done in six high prevalence states, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Manipur. Available on: Data.undp.org.in/hivreport/India_Report of UNDP.

[10] Saseedharan Pallikadavath et al. 2001. HIV/AIDS in rural India: Focus group discussion on Context and health care needs. Pune. available on socstas.soton.ac.uk.

[11] Global Adult Tobacco Survey. 2011. HIV estimates by detailed status of smoking, according to region/states/UTS. India. (2009-2010).

[12] NACO. 2011. annual report. (2010-’11) Available on: AnnualReport, 2010-2011-TEXTCS.indd (naco.org).

[13] KSACS. 2007. sentinel surveillance data, 2007. HIV prevalence in high-risk population.

[14] Robert W Burgoyne, Darell HS. 2008. Prolongation and quality of life for HIV infected adults treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy, a balancing act. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemothrapy. 61(469): 469-473.

[15] NACO. 2009. Training manual on intensified TB/HIV package for medical officers. TBC. available on www. Tbcindia.org.

[16] T.Mahalakshmi , KC Mofolorunsho, KG Osaybome. 2011. Quality of life of people living with HIV infection in Puducherry, India. Indian Journal of Community Medicine. 36(3).

[17] Lamkang AS, Joshi PC, Singh MM. 2009. Assessing the quality of life and needs of HIV/AIDS patients in Manipur, India. Journal of Communicable Disease. 41(4):221-227.

[18] Karl Peltzer et al. 2008. Health related factors in a sample of HIV infected South Africans. Human Science Research Council.

[19] Kristi Routel, Heti Pisarev, Hella Mail, Anneli Uskula. 2009. Factors influencing the quality of life of people living with HIV in Estonia. Journal of International AIDS Society. S12-13.

[20] Imam MH, Karim MR, Ferdous C Akhther. 2011. Health related quality of life among people living with HIV in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Medical Research Council Bulletin. 37:1-6.

[21] P.S Chandra Veena Satyanarayana, Satish Chandra, Satish Mahendra. 2009. Do men and women with HIV differ in their quality of life? A study from South India. AIDS Behaviour. 13:110-117.

[22] Yogita Rai, Anusree Dutta, Anil K Gulati. 2008. Quality of life of HIV infected people across different stages of infection. Journal of Happiness Studies. 2(1): 61-69.

[23] Manoj Kumar, Saroj Verma, Dipti, Heena. 2009. Quality of life of patients with HIV infection. Indian Journal of Social Science Researchers. 26(2): 79-86.

[24] Elisabete Cristina, Ivon Franca, Fernonda Lopes. 2007. Quality of life of people with HIV/AIDS in Sao Paulo Brazil. Rev Sauda Publica. 41(2).

[25] Amare Deribew, Markas Tosfoye, Yohannes Hailmkhal, Neliya Negussu, Shalo Daba, Ajetne Woye, et al. 2009. Tuberculosis and HIV co-infection, its impact on quality of life. Health and Quality of Life Outcome. 7:105.

[26] A.A Fatiregum, KC Mofolorunsho, KG Osaybame. 2009. Quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS in Koye State, Nigeria. Benin Journal of Postgraduate Medicine. 2(1).

[27] Venter E, Gericke GJ, Bekker PJ. 2009. Nutritional status, quality of life and CD4 cell count of adults living with HIV/AIDS in GaRankuwa area, South Africa. South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 22(3): 124-129.

[28] Zimpel Fbek. 2007.Quality of life in HIV positive Brazilians: application and validation of WHOQOL-HIVBrazilian version. AIDS CARE. 19:923-930.

[29] Kebeda Alera et al. 2010. Quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS on highly active antiretroviral therapy in Ethiopia. African Journal of AIDS Research. 9(1):31-40.

[30] Naveet Wig, Raja lekshmi, Hemraj Pal, Vivek Chander Mohan, Sunil Kumar. 2006. The impact of HIV/AIDS on the quality of life: a cross sectional study in North India. Indian Journal of Medical Sciences. 60(1): 3-12.

[31] Abboud S, Noureddine S, Huijer HA, De Jong, Mokhbat J. 2010. Quality of life in people living with HIV/AIDS in Lebanon. AIDS CARE. 22(6):687-689.

[32] Xigoyan, Sato, Mari Kondo. 2011. Quality of life and related factors among people China. Journal of Nursing and Health Care of Chronic illness. 3(4): 513-520.

[33] Yang MH, Chen YM, Kuo BI, Wang KY. 2003. Quality of life and related factors for people living
with HIV/AIDS in Northern Taiwan. J Nurs Res. 11(3):217-26.

[34] Basterdo Y. M., Kimberlin C. C. 2000. Relationship between quality of life of people, social support, and disease related factors in HIV infected persons in Venezuela. Aids Care. 12(5):673-84.

[35] Liu C., Johnson L, O Strow D, Silvester A, Visscher B, Jacobson LP.2006. Predictors for lower quality of life in HAART era among HIV infected men. Journal of AIDS. 42(4): 470-477.

[36] Wachtel T., Piette J, Mor V, Stein M, Flieshman J, Carpenter C. 1992. Quality of life in persons with HIV infection:measured by medical outcomes. Annals of Internal Medicine. 116(2): 129-37.

[37] Preau, Marie, Marcellin, Fabienne, Carrieri et al. 2007. Health related quality of life in French people living with HIV in 2003: National ANRS (EN 12-VESPA study. AIDS. 21(P): S19-27.

[38] Marziej Nojomi, Khalereh, Mitra. 2008. Health related quality of life in patients with HIV/AIDS. Archives Iranian Medicine. 11(6):608-612.