Study of Depression in People Living with HIV/AIDS Attending Antiretroviral Treatment Center

Abstract

Background: Depression, being the most common neuropsychiatric complication of HIV, is also associated with increased healthcare utilization, decreased quality of life, and poor adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART). Depression is a multidimensional disorder affected by a variety of biological, psychological, and social determinants, and this relation becomes more complicated in HIV patients. The current study therefore aimed to assess the prevalence of depression in adult people living with HIV/AIDS using Patient Health Questionnaire 12 (PHQ12) and to study the various sociodemographic factors and clinical variables associated with depression in adult people living with HIV/AIDS. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at an ART center in a tertiary care hospital in HIV/AIDS patients of 20–60 years of age. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were studied, and PHQ12 was used to assess depression. The χ2 test was applied to test association among depression, sociodemographic variables, and clinical variables of study subjects. Results and Conclusion: Out of the 372 study subjects 169 (45.4%) suffered from depression. Female sex, nuclear family, rural residence, lowered socioeconomic class (lower middle and below), illiteracy, widowed person, and opportunistic infection were significantly associated with depression (P < 0.05) in people living with HIV/AIDS. There was no significant association between prevalence of depression and age group, religion, CD4 count, and WHO staging.