Standard of Living of HIV Positive Individuals Visiting HIV Clinic Services Hospital, Lahore

Abstract

HIV is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and leads to immunosuppression, thus making an individual easily susceptible to infections.This research was conducted in the HIV Clinic at Services Hospital Lahore to assess the living standards of HIV-positive patients visiting HIV Clinic. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to assess the standard of life in HIV-positive patients visiting the HIV Clinic of Services Hospital Lahore.Methods: It was a case-series study, conducted in the HIV clinic at Services Hospital Lahore. Data was collected from patients suffering from HIV-AIDS with the help of structured questionnaires. SPSS 23 software was used to enter, compile, and analyze the data.Results: Result of this study showed that 50% of patients visiting HIV clinic Services Hospital Lahore are in the age group of 31-45 years. Male and married patients are predominant. The questionnaire had 35 questions which are transformed into 11 dimensions. Cronbach's α co-efficient were calculated for all multi-item scales and four out of eight scale.Cronbach's α for perceived health is 0.72, physical functioning is 0.79, health distress is 0.78, and cognitive function is 0.70. The total mean summary scores were also calculated. The dimensions affecting physical and mental health were added together under the summary score of physical and mental health. The added mean summary score ± SD for mental health is 55.4±11.8 and for physical health is 41.5±11.3.Conclusions: The data indicates that patients with HIV/AIDS have an overall high standard of living. The stigma is that the patients consider themselves a bit exclusive, as AIDS is considered taboo in the Pakistani Muslim community. The research shows that patients with AIDS have excellent mental health, but their physical health is a bit worse depending on the burden of disease (virus). Thus, a conclusion can be made that HIV affects a person's physical health more than their mental health.