Journal of Antivirals & Antiretrovirals
Open Access

Abstract

A Comparative Study of Health Related-Quality of Life Among HIV Patients on Pre-HAART and HAART in Uyo South-South Nigeria

Olugbemi Oluseyi Motilewa, Uwemedimbuk Smart Ekanem, Adedeji Onayade and Salami S Sule

Assessing health related quality of life (HR-QOL) in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) has the potential to give an insight into the patients' perception of the burden of the disease and assess the effect of management. The aim of this study was to assess the HR-QOL in HIV patients who present for treatment in Uyo. The study is a prospective longitudinal study of PLWHA attending HIV clinics. One hundred and sixty-one newly diagnosed HIV patients were recruited by systematic sampling technique proportionately to the two public hospitals in Uyo. The patients were classified into Pre-HAART and HAART groups based on their eligibility to commence HAART. WHOQOL-HIV Bref was the instrument used at recruitment and at four months. Data was analyzed using STATA 10 statistical package. At recruitment, the HR-QOL of the Pre-HAART respondents was better than the HAART respondents across the domains, except for spirituality. While at four months both groups became similar except at social and environmental domains where Pre HAART fared better. Both groups showed improvement after four months. Provision of appropriate HIV care to an infected person within a short term is associated with improvement in their HR-QOL.