Ukraine is a country that is showing an increase in new cases of HIV infection and it continues to hold a leading position on the AIDS epidemic on the European continent. That is the reason for relevance of the research topic. The study of the quality of life of people living with HIV in Lviv region is an opportunity to assess the effectiveness of state and some international programs to combat HIV / AIDS, ART and patient adherence to it, as well as the impact of cultural, religious and ethnic features of the Western region. The purpose of the study was to establish the main indicators that determine the quality of life of HIV-infected residents of Lviv region, who were under medical supervision in the "Public Health Center" and inpatient treatment at the "Lviv Regional Infectious Diseases Clinical Hospital". Materials and methods: 100 patients with HIV-positive status and 100 healthy residents of Lviv region were interviewed. Patients were divided into three study groups: group I included 100 examined people living with HIV, group II had 73 patients with HIV-positive status, who were under observation and received outpatient care at the HCC. Group III included 27 patients who were hospitalized in "LOIKL". The control group consisted of 100 adults and relatively healthy residents of Lviv region aged from 19 to 65 years. The general quality of life questionnaire SF 36 was used to assess the patients’ quality of life. Results and discussion. The study results showed that the overall quality of life index according to the SF 36 questionnaire was significantly lower in people living with HIV (53.5±8.13) than in the control group (84.5±3.25, p <0.05). There was also a significant difference both in terms of physical health component (54.3±1.23 vs. 83.5,±2.73 p <0.05) and in terms of mental health component (52.5±2, 15 vs. 79.4±2.45, p <0.05), which indicated the impact on quality of life as a pathological process caused by HIV / AIDS and the stigma of discrimination. The most significant decrease in quality of life was found in patients who were hospitalized. Such results showed a significant effect on the indicators of quality of life pathological process in the acute period or at the stage of exacerbation. Conclusion. The scores on all scales of the questionnaire were slightly better in patients who used psychoactive substances, than those in HIV-infected people who did not use such substances. The prospect of further research is seen in conducting multicenter studies in Ukraine on the assessment of quality of life in people living with HIV and establishing the degree of linkages between the factors that may affect the quality of life of HIV-infected people: social, economic, biomedical, and psychological. The problem of developing rehabilitation programs and measures aimed at improving the quality of life of people living with HIV remains open.
Keywords: HIV / AIDS, quality of life, SF 36 questionnaire, patient, indicator
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