Assessment of Health-Related Quality of Life and Associated Factors Among HIV/AIDS Patients on Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) at Ambo General Hospital, West Shewa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Hunduma Dinsa Ayeno, Kume Megersa Atomsa, Getu Melesie Taye Department of Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ambo University, Ambo, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Hunduma Dinsa Ayeno Email [email protected]: Determining the degree of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and associated factors in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive people is of great importance.Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the HRQoL and associated factors among HIV-infected patients who were on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) at Ambo General Hospital.Methods: A study with a cross-sectional design was conducted on 296 HIV-infected patients who were on HAART at Ambo General Hospital from February 20 to May 20, 2019. Patients were recruited by a random sampling technique and a P-value < 0.05 was set as statistically significant. Th main outcome measure was HRQoL.Results: The majority of study participants were female (56.8%). More than half (53%) of the participants had low overall HRQoL. Those who were married and who earned < 1500 ETB were less likely to experience low overall HRQoL than single people (AOR: 4.41, P=0.024) and those who earned more (AOR: 4.27, P=0.000), respectively. Those with current illness and who had no HIV-positive family members were more likely to experience lower overall quality of life than those with no current illness (AOR: 32.29, P=0.000) and with one HIV-positive family member (AOR: 4.03, P=0.003), respectively. Those with recent WHO clinical stage I were less likely to experience a lower overall quality of life than those with stage II (AOR: 0.07, P=0.000).Conclusion: Current illness, recent WHO stage and having no HIV-positive family members were found to be strongly associated with lower quality of life in HIV-positive patients on antiretroviral therapy.Keywords: health-related quality of life, HIV-positive patients, highly active antiretroviral therapy, Ambo General Hospital, WHO stage IV

Keywords

• health related quality of life
• hiv positive patients
• highly active antiretroviral therapy
• ambo general hospital
• who stage iv