Elsevier

Value in Health Regional Issues

Volume 2, Issue 2, September–October 2013, Pages 254-258
Value in Health Regional Issues

Patient-Reported Quality of Life During Antiretroviral Therapy in a Nigerian Hospital

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vhri.2013.07.004Get rights and content
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Abstract

Objectives

We assessed the reported quality of life of patients with HIV/AIDS and explored the impact of patients’ sociodemographic profile on the quality-of-life domains.

Methods

Consenting outpatients who met criteria were consecutively selected in a secondary health care facility in Benin City, Nigeria. Quality of life was determined in the nine domains of HIV/AIDS Targeted Quality of Life (HAT-QOL) instrument. Quality-of-life scores were computed on the scale of 0 to 100 and triangulated with a rated interval scale of 1 to 5 suited for quantitative analysis. Association between rated scores and each domain was explored by using Students’ t test and analysis of variance at 95% confidence interval.

Results

Out of the 403 patients, 82.1% were females; 147 (36.1%) belonged to the modal age group of 20 to 30 years; the mean age for grouped data was 39.2 years. About 239 (58.7%) were not married. Also, 338 (83.0%) earned below $1500 per annum and 303 (74.40%) had basic education (grade 1 to grade 9). HAT-QOL scores indicated the following: overall function (89.96 ± 5.62); life satisfaction (91.94 ± 3.62); health worries (87.06 ± 4.28); financial worries (81.00 ± 3.95); medication worries (91.65 ± 4.47); HIV mastery (71.00 ± 3.11); disclosure worries (27.50 ± 7.57); provider trust (91.63 ± 1.96); and sexual function (70.25 ± 3.51). Likert-type rated scores were in agreement with HAT-QOL scores. Provider trust was associated with gender, employment status, and educational level. Sexual function was associated with gender and age (P < 0.05).

Conclusions

Patients reported satisfactory quality of life in the domains of overall function, life satisfaction, health worries, financial worries, medication worries, HIV mastery, provider trust, and sexual function. Quality of life was low in the domain of disclosure worries, indicating concerns for discrimination and stigmatization. Age, level of education, and employment status had a strong impact on the quality of life of patients with HIV/AIDs.

Keywords

HAT-QOL
HIV/AIDS
Nigeria
quality of life

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Conflicts of interest: The authors have indicated that they have no conflicts of interest with regard to the content of this article.