Epidemiology of human immuno-deficiency virus and quality of life for people living with HIV/AIDS in China

Epidemiological analyses of regional and age differences of HIV/AIDS prevalence in China, 2004-2016

OBJECTIVES

To describe the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in China from 2004 to 2016 and to assess whether regional and age differences exist with HIV/AIDS infection.

METHODS

We searched the Chinese Public Health Science Data Center by the keywords of "HIV" or "AIDS", and collected the data referred to HIV/AIDS morbidity, mortality, and new HIV infection rate, 2004 to 2016.

RESULTS

The HIV/AIDS morbidity, mortality, and new HIV infection rate continually increased per year in China from 2004 to 2016 (0.235, 0.057 and 1.020 in 2004; 3.990, 1.034 and 6.442 in 2016 respectively) (all p<0.001). The middle-aged HIV/AIDS populations showed the highest infection and regional difference significantly existed in the geographical distribution of HIV/AIDS prevalence.

CONCLUSIONS

Our analyses of HIV/AIDS prevalence during more than a decade indicate that HIV/AIDS prevalence is getting more and more serious and the rapid spread of HIV exists with the characteristics of regional and age differences.

The univariate and bivariate impact of HIV/AIDS on the quality of life: a cross sectional study in the Hubei Province-Central China

This study is aimed to evaluate the quality of life (QOL) for individuals living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in Hubei province-central China by using WHOQOL-BREF instrument (Chinese version). One hundred and thirty six respondents (HIV/AIDS individuals) attending out-patient department of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Chinese CDC) were administered a structured questionnaire developed by investigators. QOL was evaluated by using WHOQOL-BREF instrument (Chinese version). The results showed that the mean score of overall QOL on a scale of 0-100 was 25.8. The mean scores in 4 domains of QOL on a scale of 0-100 were 82.9 (social domain), 27.5 (psychological domain), 17.7 (physical domain) and 11.65 (environmental domain). The significant difference of QOL was noted in the score of physical domain between asymptomatic (14.6) and early symptomatic individuals (12) (P=0.014), and between patients with early symptoms (12) and those with AIDS (10.43) (P<0.001). QOL in psychological domain was significantly lower in early symptomatic (12.1) (P<0.05) and AIDS patients (12.4) (P<0.006) than in asymptomatic individuals (14.2). The difference in QOL scores in the psychological domain was significant with respect to the income of patients (P<0.048) and educational status (P<0.037). Significantly better QOL scores in the physical domain (P<0.040) and environmental domain (P<0.017) were noted with respect to the occupation of the patients. Patients with family support had better QOL scores in environmental domain. In our research, QOL for HIV/AIDS individuals was associated with education, occupation, income, family support and clinical categories of the patients. It was concluded that WHOQOL-BREF Chinese version was successfully used in the evaluation of QOL of HIV/AIDS individuals in Chinese population and proved to be a reliable and useful tool.