Health-Related Quality of Life in Children with HIV Infection—A Cross-Sectional Study from South India

Abstract

Assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children with HIV is crucial to improve the psychosocial well-being of this vulnerable population. The objective of this study was to assess the HRQoL of children with HIV infection aged between 5 and 18 years. The study was conducted in 144 children with HIV attending an antiretroviral therapy (ART) center in Karnataka to assess the HRQoL, using the PedsQL questionnaire. Total 144 children were included in the study, who had HRQoL with good physical (75.99???13.46), psychosocial (71.01???12.83), and total (72.43???12.73) scores according to the child's perspective. Number of boys and children raised in foster homes were 51.3% (74) and 56% (81), respectively. Even though all children had complete adherence and had a good immunologic and clinical profile, we found that their HRQoL did not vary with stage of infection, duration of treatment, or immunologic status. Our findings underscore the importance of family-centered care for children living with HIV and advocate enhancing psychosocial and mental development to improve the HRQoL of children.

Parental Perception of Health-Related Quality of Life of Children [8-12 Years] Living with HIV

“…Furthermore, although most of the study participants had two living parents, good immunological status [CD4 lymphocyte count, viral load] there was no significant association between social status, immunological status, and better HRQoL, suggesting that other factors play a more important role for the well-being of children living with HIV. These findings support the results from previous studies (27,28,30,35). The strength of this study is the in-depth data obtained about the views of HRQoL obtained from both parents and children.…”

“…Our results confirm previous evidence about the poor psychological wellbeing of children and adolescents who live with HIV. Lower psychosocial scores observed in this study are in accordance with reports of other researchers who studied children living with HIV (28,(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35). Although Gupta et al (27) reported better psychosocial HRQoL in the study population in South India suggesting that this difference might be due to family and socio-cultural practices in the community.…”

“…Association of longer duration of ART with favorable HRQoL was similar to report by the PREDICT study in Southeast Asia (34). However, the finding in this study disagrees with some previous findings across different age groups where the association between age and HRQoL was not found (27,28,30,35). Furthermore, although most of the study participants had two living parents, good immunological status [CD4 lymphocyte count, viral load] there was no significant association between social status, immunological status, and better HRQoL, suggesting that other factors play a more important role for the well-being of children living with HIV.…”

“…For example, parental self-criticism, anxiety, burden of secrecy, guilt, bereavement, financial challenges, and the fact that HIV is being stigmatized in their community could be distressing and counteract their physical and psychosocial wellbeing (12,13,16,17). Parental reports affirm family perception of children living with HIV (27,28,(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35), suggesting the need for continuous psychosocial support of parents/families living with HIV.…”

“…This questionnaire was originally developed in the United States. The PedsQL™ has been validated in various countries globally including Nigeria and has been used in different studies in the paediatric population worldwide (22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28).…”