Comparison of the health-related quality of life, CD4 count and viral load of AIDS patients and people with HIV who have been on treatment for 12 months in rural South Africa

This study compared the level of CD4 count, viral load and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) between treatment-naïve AIDS patients and a cohort of people living with HIV who have been on treatment for 12 months. This study is based on a secondary data analysis of the records of 642 people with HIV consisting of 311 treatment-naïve AIDS patients and 331 people with HIV who have been on treatment for 12 months. The study findings are mostly presented in tables and analysed using the t-test to compare HRQOL scores, CD4 count and viral load in the two groups. The study generally noted poor financial capacity and low activity tolerance among the participants. Significant changes were noted in all the domains of HRQOL compared between the treatment-naïve patients and the 12 months treatment cohort. In the same manner, the median CD4 cell count and viral load differed significantly between both groups. The treatment-naïve and the 12 months treatment cohorts consistently reported much lower quality of life scores in the level of dependence domain which includes the measures of mobility, activity of daily living, dependence on medication and work capacity. There were little or no associations between the biomedical markers (CD4 count and viral load) and HRQOL indicators. However, the quality of life tended to increase with increase in the CD4 cell count. The poor to no association between the biomedical markers and HRQOL indicators show that these cannot be direct proxies of each other and that the CD4 cell count and viral load alone may be inadequate eligibility criteria for social support.