Quality of life and associated factors among HIV-infected individuals in Jing’an District， Shanghai

Objective To determine the quality of life among HIV-infected individuals and risk factors in Jing’an District of Shanghai.

Methods This is a cross-sectional study. Cluster sampling strategy was used to select HIV-infected individuals who were registered with the national HIV/AIDS case reporting system in eight community health service centers in Jing’an District of Shanghai. The short form 36 （SF-36） scale， self-rating anxiety scale （SAS）， social support scale （SSS） and specifically designed questionnaires were used to collect information. Logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with quality of life.

Results In total， 365 HIV-infected individuals were included in the study. The total average score of quality of life was 79.5±10.4. The scores in general health， vitality and emotional well-being were lower than the norm， whereas the scores in other dimensions were higher than the norm. Multivariable logistic regression indicated that age of 45‒ years （vs age of 18‒ years： OR=0.23， 95%CI： 0.08‒0.68） was significantly associated with the quality of life. Furthermore， smoking （OR=2.18， 95%CI： 1.22‒3.90）， lower CD4⁺T cell counts （<350 cell·μL^-1， OR=2.89， 95%CI： 1.54‒5.40）， comorbidity （≥2 kinds， OR=3.40， 95%CI： 1.15‒10.04） and anxiety （OR=1.09， 95%CI： 1.05‒1.14） were risk factors associated with declining quality of life.

Conclusion It warrants more attention to those HIV-infected individuals with poor psychological status， smoking， low CD4⁺T cell counts and comorbidities. Targeted health care and social support could effectively improve the quality of life among HIV-infected individuals.