TITLE:
Sociodemographic, Clinical and Quality of Life Aspects of People Aged over 50 Years Living with HIV/AIDS
AUTHORS:
Alexsandra Rodrigues Feijão, Klebia Karoline dos Santos Neco, Jéssica Dayane Dantas Costa, Isabelle Christine Marinho de Oliveira, Ana Luisa Brandão de Carvalho Lira, Bertha Cruz Enders
KEYWORDS:
AIDS, Quality of Life, Aging
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Nursing,
Vol.6 No.6,
June
9,
2016
ABSTRACT: Introduction: In the last few years, there has been a growth in the number of cases of people with HIV/AIDS aged 50 years and older. This is explained by the inclusion of antiretroviral therapy, increased survival of patients as well as by the growth in the number of infected people in this age group. Objective: To analyze the association between sociodemographic and clinical characteristics with the QOL of people aged 50 years or older living with HIV/AIDS. Methods: Quantitative, cross-sectional study conducted in the outpatient clinic of a reference hospital in Natal, Brazil. The sample consisted of 50 subjects, aged over 50, seropositive for HIV and with cognitive conditions to answer the interview. Authors used sociodemographic and clinical evaluation tools and the WHOQOL-HIV BREF scale. Results: Sociodemographic: respondents’ average age was 57.32 years, 58% male, 38% brown, 26% incomplete primary education, 46% single, 56% retired, 70% with a monthly income of 1 to 2 minimum wages and 70% Catholic. Clinical: 60% have a partner without the diagnosis of HIV/AIDS; 62% had not been hospitalized previously; 66% did not have opportunistic infections; 40% indicated that there was a change in the physiological sexual function after the onset of the disease. Quality of life: people living with HIV/AIDS had low scores in QOL domains. When associating sociodemographic and clinical aspects, it was observed that they had associations with QOL, especially in regard to education, income, religion, change in sexual function and feelings. Conclusion: The spiritual domain was highlighted with the best performance, collaborating to facing, hope and resilience of HIV/AIDS.