Author(s)

Alexsandra Rodrigues Feijão¹, Klebia Karoline dos Santos Neco¹, Jéssica Dayane Dantas Costa², Isabelle Christine Marinho de Oliveira¹, Ana Luisa Brandão de Carvalho Lira¹, Bertha Cruz Enders¹

¹Nursing Department, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
²Multicampi School of Medical Sciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.

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.

AIDS, Quality of Life, Aging

Rodrigues Feijão, A. , dos Santos Neco, K. , Dantas Costa, J. , Marinho de Oliveira, I. , Carvalho Lira, A. and Enders, B. (2016) Sociodemographic, Clinical and Quality of Life Aspects of People Aged over 50 Years Living with HIV/AIDS. Open Journal of Nursing, 6, 435-442. doi: 10.4236/ojn.2016.66045.