IOSR Journal of Pharmacy (IOSRPHR)

IOSR Journal Of Pharmacy
(e)-ISSN: 2250-3013, (p)-ISSN: 2319-4219
Www.Iosrphr.Org Volume 3, Issue 9 (October 2013), Pp 63-67

Factors Determining Quality Of Life of Geriatric Patients With
HIV/AIDS: A Cross Sectional Study In South India
1,

Sudhir MBBS.MD , 2, Deepa.K, MBBS, MD , 3, Ashok N.C MBBS MD ,
4
Murali Dhar M Phil,PhD

1,

Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine Adichunchanagiri Institute of Medical Sciences
B.G Nagara
2,
Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry Mysore Medical College and Research Institute
Mysore
3,
Professor and Head, Department of Community Medicine. J.S.S Medical College Mysore
4
Associate Professor,Department of Statistics, Manipal University Level 6, Health Sciences Library Building,
Manipal, India

ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: With the effectiveness of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART),
people with HIV are aging .This number is expected to grow because of the aging of younger cohorts with HIV
as well as new infections among persons over 60. With this upward shift in the age of people living with HIV, it
is important to consider ways to promote successful aging in this growing population.

OBJECTIVE: To study the factors determining the quality of life of geriatric HIV/AIDS patients.
METHODOLOGY: This cross sectional study was done in 320 HIV/AIDS patients aged more than 60 years
at ART centre K.R Hospital, Mysore. WHO-QOL-Bref a summarized quality of life questionnaire was used to
assess the Quality of life and pre-structured and predesigned questionnaire was used for determining various
factors influencing QoL. Statistical analysis was done using SYSTAT 13 software. To test the significance, t test
was applied.

RESULTS: Out of 325 patients included in the study 220 were male and 100 were female, 180 of them were
from rural area and 210 were married. Multiple linear regression showed social relation had maximum effect
on QoL. Factors which were statistically significantly related with better QoL were male sex, married marital
status , higher education, employed, higher CD4 count and lower stage of disease.

CONCLUSION: The long-term effects of disease management on the aging population are something that
both health care providers and policy makers often overlook. This is especially true with older persons with
HIV/AIDS. Important epidemiologic and clinical differences exist between younger and older HIV-infected
persons. Health care providers need to address the issues of sexuality in older patients and the similarity
between the conditions associated with HIV and those of aging, such as dementia.

KEY WORDS: CD4 Count, Quality of life ,HIV/AIDS, Geriatric
I.

INTRODUCTION

Thanks largely to the effectiveness of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART),people with HIV
are aging1,2 .This number is expected to grow because of the aging of younger cohorts with HIV as well as new
infections among persons over 60. With this upward shift in the age of people living with HIV, it is important to
consider ways to promote successful aging in this growing population.As the general population ages and the
generation of baby boomers moves into mid life, the percentage of older adults at risk for HIV will increase. In
addition, there are currently HIV positive adults who have transitioned into older adulthood with the virus, as
well as an increased number of aging partners, family members, and caregivers. Furthermore, with increased
treatment options, the very nature of HIV/AIDS is projected to change, transforming a lethal, acute disease into
a chronic illness that will inevitably affect increasing numbers of older people. The number of older adults
vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infection suggest that older adults may not be aware of or protecting themselves from
the risk factors associated with HIV/AIDS3. Often, older adults are not provided the information necessary to
help protect themselves against infection.

63

Factors Determining Quality Of Life Of Geriatric…
This is due in part to the general perception that the older adult population is not at risk for HIV, and
society’s reluctance to discuss behaviors that increase risk for transmission of HIV4. Social workers in many
different fields of practice must be aware of the risk factors and transmission issues that leave older adults
vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infection. The misconception that older people are not sexually active has, in large
part, been a contributor in making older adults an invisible population to many AIDS educators and social
workers. The total number of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) in India is estimated at 24 lakh (19.3 –30.4)
in 2009. Children (<15 yrs) account for 3.5% of all infections, while 83% are the in age group 15-49 years and
13.5% are aged more than 50 yrs. With the universal availability of the ART drugs the life span of the patients
have increased and more and more patients are entering in to older age group. As the life span has increased
their quality of life has become an important focus for researchers and healthcare providers and what are the
factors on which the QoL depends. Hence this study is done to know the factors determining the quality of life
of geriatric HIV/AIDS patients of Mysore district and recommend suggestions to improve these factors

II.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

This study was a cross-sectional descriptive study which was done between January 2012 to August
2012, in HIV/AIDS patients aged more than 60 years with no severe psychiatric or cognitive problems coming
to ART centre, K.R Hospital, Mysore. Ethical committee clearance was taken from institution time bound
research committee and informed consent from the patients.
For estimating Quality of life instrument used was a summarized quality of life questionnaire of World Health
Organization (WHO-QOL-Bref) that included 26 questions; 24 questions covered the four main domains such
as physical health, psychological health, social functions, and environmental domain. Two questions included
the satisfaction of overall health.
The items under the domains were:
Physical health: dependence of treatment, energy and fatigue, mobility, presence of pain and discomfort, sleep
and rest, activities of daily living and perceived working capacity.
Psychological well being: affect, positive self concept, negative feelings, higher cognitive functions, body
image and spirituality.
Social relations: social contacts, family support, sexual activity.
Environment: freedom, quality of home environment, physical safety and security, involvement in recreational
activity, quality of health and social care and accessibility to services. Each answer to the question was
measured in likert scale of 1-5, later each domain score was calculated which had a set of questions and the
domain score was converted to a scale of 0-20, with minimum possible score of domain was given score 0 and
maximum possible score of domain was given score 20, and by multiplying this score with 5,final score in the
range of 0-100 was calculated for each domain, and the mean of all the domain score together gave the quality
of life score in the range of 0-100. And for each patient interviewed CD4 count was done at ART centre, K.R
Hospital. The CD4 count cut off was taken as 350 because ART is started to HIV patients with CD4 count less
than 350 according to NACO guidelines.
Statistical Analysis: The data entry and all the statistical analysis was performed by using Microsoft Excel and
Epi-info software respectively. To test the significance between QOL and CD4 count t test was applied. The
standard error of difference between means was employed to find out significant difference between domain
scores and clinical categories. The difference between two sample mean is considered significant if the p value
calculated is less than 0.05.
Results: Total of 320 patients were interviewed, mean age of the patients was 65.06 years, and most of them
were male.In the study it was seen that patients with CD4 count less than 350 were more than those patients
with CD4 count more than 350, in both the group men were more than the females.(Table:2) When mean score
of each domain was calculated it was seen that environmental domain contributed more to QoL score.(Table:3)
As shown in the table 4, when regression coefficient was calculated for each domains against QoL it was seen
that physical health had more effect on QoL. When combined regression coefficient was calculated it was found
that social relation had more effect on QoL. In table 5 it can be seen that male sex, married patients, higher
education, employed, patients from rural area, better CD4 count and better stage of disease had better QoL than
other patients.

64

Table 1: Characteristics of study population:
320
65.06

Total No. of patients
Mean age
Sex:
Male
Female
Residence
Urban
Rural
Marital status:
Unmarried
Married
Divorced
Widowed
Separated
Education:
Illiterate
Primary school
Secondary school
Tertiary

220
100
180
140
20
210
20
40
30
120
30
50
120

Table 2: Comparison of male and female based on CD4 count:
Clinical category CD4 count(/mm2 )
<350
>350
Total

Men
120
100
220

Women
60
40
100

Total
180
140
320

Table 3: Mean domain score of QOL.
S.No
1
2
3
4

WHO QoL Domains
Physical domain
Psychological domain
Social domain
Environmental domain

Mean+S.D
58.4+6.02
45.9+11.49
42.5+17.31
60.0+11.42

Table 4: Results summary of univariate and multiple linear regression analysis of QoL and the domains:

S.No

Domains

1
2
3
4
5

Physical health
Psychological well being
Social relation
Environment
Physical health
Psychological well being
Social relation
Environment

65

Regression
coefficient
0.703
0.636
0.439
0.605
0.253
0.169
0.316
0.233

R2
21%
63%
69%
57%
96%

Table 5: Factors determining QoL
S.No
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Factors
Sex
Male
Female
Marital Status
Married
Others
Education
Illiterate
Primary school
Secondary school
Tertiary

No.

III.

p value

220
100

53.9+9.94
48.2+5.87

<0.05

210
110

54.4+9.57
47.8+6.82

<0.05

120
30
50
120

48.3+8.29
52.5+9.42
54.3+10.01
55.3+9.45

230
90

54.0+9.34
47.3+7.04

<0.05

180
140

50.0+8.68
54.8+9.40

<0.05

180
140

49.4+9.86
55.6+7.07

<0.05

90
170
40
20

Employment
Yes
No
Residence
Urban
Rural
CD4 count
<350
>350
Stage of disease
I
II
III
IV

Mean+S.D

61.4+6.01
51.8+5.31
39.1+5.35
38.3+4.23

<0.05

<0.05

DISCUSSION:

In previous studies it is seen that stigma appeared to diminish with age, with adults 60 and older
reporting significantly lower stigma scores than those aged 50–59 years 5. For older adults, the fear of stigma
was related to concerns about rejection and to socially problematic consequences of HIV-related symptoms,
which often resulted in social isolation as people limited social contacts6. Older adults with HIV often reported
high rates of depression. Heckman et al found that 25% of older adults had moderate/severe depression which
was associated with decreased physical well-being and social support7. In one of the few studies of social
support for older adults, Schrimshaw et al found that it helped mitigate HIV distress, positively affecting both
mood and distress levels 8. Those with more co-morbidities and physical strain reported greater levels of social
support 9. After the introduction of ART, excess morbidity and mortality among older adults declined. Piette et
al found older adults with HIV had lower self-rated health and poorer physical and social function compared to
younger adults 10. Nokes et al concluded that although older adults had higher mortality and co-morbidity rates,
and more limited physical functioning than younger adults, there were no significant differences in quality of
life 11. Regardless of HIV status, the sexuality of older men is challenged by age. They recommend older men
with HIV or at risk for HIV be screened for these conditions Siegel et al identified a number of factors,
including side effects, stigma, and fatigue, that influenced levels of adherence 12 . Wutoh et al. (2001) found
older adults generally more adherent than younger individuals, except when health problems intervened 13.
Barclay et al found poor adherence was twice as high for younger than older adults. Poor self-esteem and lack of
perceived utility predicted younger adults’ non-adherence, but only decreased levels of neuro-cognitive
functioning predicted older adults’ poor adherence 14. In our study the environment domain had the maximum
mean QoL score out of the four domains. This suggest that patients had better quality of home environment,
physical safety and security, involvement in recreational activity, quality of health and social care, freedom and
accessibility to services. The domain hardly hit was the social domain with score way behind the other three
domains indicating that patients social contacts, family support and sexual activity were affected to a great
extent. The regression coefficient of the domains has shown that social factors had maximum effect on the
overall QoL scores suggesting that factors relating to social activity, social support and sexual relations were
affected more than any other factors.When individual factors were compared it was found that males had better
QoL score than females this suggest that female patients have to face lots of challenges in the society, they are
neglected at each stage of their life, and those patients who have lost their husband find it very difficult to find

66

their livelihood. Married patients had better QoL score than other patients this can be due to the fact that married
patients have family members to care for them and they are socially more secured. Better education was
associated with better QoL score,this may be due to better understanding of the disease ,strict adhearance to
treatment with frequent visit to the hospital and following correctly doctors advise. Patients who were working
had better QoL score, this may be due to the fact that being employed keeps them busy, make them financially
independent and make them feel that they are worthy. We have found that patients from rural area had better
QoL than urban patients this finding may be due to the fact that patients from rural area have better access to
fresh fruits and vegetables, they also have pollution free environment to live and are physically hard worker. It
was also seen in the study that patients with better CD4 count had better QoL score than other patients, this can
be explained by the fact that CD4 count is a pseudo marker of disease progression, as the disease progresses the
viral multiplication increases and the CD4 count starts falling. In the study it was seen that patients with lower
stage of disease had better QoL than patients with higher stage of disease, this can be explained on the fact that
as the disease progresses the CD4 count falls and the patients become prone to opportunistic infections which in
turn results in fall in QoL score.

IV.

CONCLUSION:

The long-term effects of disease management on the aging population are something that both health
care providers and policy makers often overlook. This is especially true with older persons with HIV/AIDS.
Important epidemiologic and clinical differences exist between younger and older HIV-infected persons. Health
care providers need to address the issues of sexuality in our older patients and the similarity between the
conditions associated with HIV and those of aging, such as dementia15.
To address this and other emerging issues, further research is needed on the long-term effects of antiretroviral
therapy, and the many metabolic and hormonal changes that occur in HIV-infected persons. These studies need
to identify cohorts of older persons because clinicians must delineate the lines between HIV and aging. Lifelong
trends in sexual and social behaviors should also be examined so that at-risk behaviors, social trends, and public
policy can be appropriately addressed. For some clinicians, a discussion of HIV with an older patient can feel
foreign. An emerging challenge for health care providers is to find ways to better meet the needs of an aging
HIV-infected population.

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67

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