Health-Related Quality of Life and CD4 cells status of Patients receiving Antiretroviral Therapy in Nigeria

Background : The goals of antiretroviral therapy (ART) are to improve patient's health-related quality oflife (HRQOL) and restore immunologic function among others. Objectives : The study evaluated HRQOL and CD4-cells response of HIV-infected patients at months 0and 6 of receiving ART in Maitama District Hospital Abuja, Nigeria. Methods : HRQOL of a cohort of 150 HIV-infected patients was evaluated at months 0 and 6 of receivingART using Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (MOS SF-36) which has 8 domains. These includephysical functioning, physically and emotionally related role limitations, social functioning, pain,energy/fatigue, emotional well-being and general health. A paired samples t-test was used to comparethe HRQOL scores and CD4 cells count of participants at months 0 and 6. Wilcoxon's signed-ranks testwas used to compare HRQOL of male and female participants. At two-tailed test, p value of <0.05 wasconsidered significant. Results : The mean age (±SD) of the 150 participants at ART initiation was 34.3 ± 8.4 years; 59.3% werefemales. The mean (±SD) HRQOL of participants increased significantly from 71.9% ± 20.9 at ARTinitiation to 89.7% ± 10.6 after 6 months of ART (p<0.05). The change in all SF-36 domains wasstatistically significant (p<0.05) except for the domains of role limitation due to emotional problems,social functioning and pain. The improvement in the mental component score (MCS) was significant(p<0.05) unlike that of the physical component (PCS). The difference in the HRQOL of male and femaleparticipants at months 0 and 6 was not significant. The mean CD4 cell count (±SD) increased from 185.7±91.0 cells/mm3 at month 0 to 199.0 ±104.7 cells/mm3 after 6months of ART; though this increase wasnot statistically significant. Conclusion : There was significant improvement in the mean HRQOL scores of participants which wasnot associated with significant improvement in the CD4 cells status after six months of ART. Theevaluation of HRQOL alongside the clinical and immunological parameters when monitoringtreatment outcomes is recommended. Key words : HIV/AIDS, Antiretroviral therapy, Outcomes, Quality of Life, Nigeria