Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Nov 8;104(1):e33-8.
doi: 10.1007/BF03405651.

Poorer physical health-related quality of life among Aboriginals and injection drug users treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy

Leah J Martin  1 , Stan Houston, Yutaka Yasui, T Cameron Wild, L Duncan Saunders
Affiliations

Poorer physical health-related quality of life among Aboriginals and injection drug users treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy

Leah J Martin et al. Can J Public Health. .

Abstract
in English, French

Objective: We compared the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal HIV patients after they started highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in Edmonton, Alberta and investigated whether clinical status (CD4 cell count and viral load) might explain any observed differences.

Methods: In 2006-2007, eligible patients who started HAART in 1997-2005 completed the MOS-HIV to measure HRQL. Using multiple linear regression models, we compared physical (PHS) and mental (MHS) health summary scores across four groups: Aboriginals infected with HIV via injection drug use (AB/IDUs); Aboriginal non-IDUs (AB/non-IDUs); non-Aboriginal IDUs (non-AB/IDUs); and non-Aboriginal non-IDUs (non-AB/non-IDUs). To assess whether clinical status could explain any observed group differences, we fitted a model adjusting for socio-demographics (age and sex) and years since starting HAART only and then additionally adjusted for current clinical status.

Results: Ninety-six patients were eligible (35% Aboriginal, 42% IDU). Adjusting for socio-demographics and years since starting HAART, AB/IDUs (p=0.008), AB/non-IDUs (p=0.002), and non-AB/IDUs (p=0.002) had lower PHS scores than non-AB/non-IDUs. After additionally adjusting for clinical status, these relationships remained significant for AB/non-IDUs (p=0.027) and non-AB/IDUs (p=0.048) but not for AB/IDUs (p=0.12). AB/IDUs and non-AB/IDUs tended to have worse MHS scores than non-AB/non-IDUs, but these relationships were not statistically significant and weakened after adjusting for current clinical status.

Conclusions: AB/IDU, AB/non-IDUs, and non-AB/IDUs had significantly poorer physical HRQL than non-AB/non-IDUs. These differences appear to be partially explained by poorer clinical status, especially for AB/IDUs, which suggests that observed inequalities in physical HRQL may be diminished by improving patients' clinical status; for example, through improved adherence to HAART.

OBJECTIF: Nous avons comparé la qualité de vie liée à la santé (QVLS) de patients autochtones et non autochtones atteints du VIH après le début d’une thérapie antirétrovirale hautement active (TAHA) à Edmonton (Alberta) et cherché à savoir si leur état clinique (numération des lymphocytes CD4 et charge virale) pouvait expliquer les différences observées.

MÉTHODE: En 2006–2007, des patients admissibles ayant entamé une TAHA en 1997–2005 ont rempli le questionnaire MOS-HIV, qui mesure la QVLS. À l’aide de modèles de régression linéaire multiple, nous avons comparé les cotes sommaires de santé physique (CSP) et de santé mentale (CSM) de quatre groupes: les Autochtones infectés par le VIH via l’utilisation de drogues par injection (Aut./UDI); les Autochtones non-UDI (Aut./non-UDI); les non-Autochtones UDI (non-Aut./UDI); et les non-Autochtones non-UDI (non-Aut./non-UDI). Pour déterminer si l’état clinique pouvait expliquer les différences observées entre ces groupes, nous avons adapté un modèle en tenant compte des caractéristiques sociodémographiques (âge et sexe) et du nombre d’années depuis le début de la TAHA seulement, puis en tenant compte, en plus, de l’état clinique actuel.

RÉSULTATS: Quatre-vingt-seize patients étaient admissibles (35 % d’Autochtones, 42 % d’UDI). Compte tenu des caractéristiques sociodémographiques et du nombre d’années depuis le début de la TAHA, les Aut./UDI (p=0,008), les Aut./non-UDI (p=0,002) et les non-Aut./UDI (p=0,002) avaient des cotes CSP inférieures à celles des non-Aut./non-UDI. En tenant aussi compte de l’état clinique, ces relations demeuraient significatives pour les Aut./non-UDI (p=0,027) et les non-Aut./UDI (p=0,048), mais pas pour les Aut./UDI (p=0,12). Les Aut./UDI et les non-Aut./UDI avaient tendance à présenter des CSM inférieures à celles des non-Aut./non-UDI, mais ces relations n’étaient pas significatives, et elles s’affaiblissaient après la prise en considération de l’état clinique actuel.

CONCLUSION: La QVLS physique des Aut./UDI, des Aut./non-UDI et des non-Aut./UDI était significativement inférieure à celle des non-Aut./non-UDI. Ces différences semblent s’expliquer en partie par un moins bon état clinique, surtout pour les Aut./UDI, ce qui laisse entendre que les inégalités observées dans la QVLS physique peuvent être réduites si l’on améliore l’état clinique des patients, par exemple en améliorant l’observance de la TAHA.

Keywords: Aboriginal populations; antiretroviral therapy; health-related quality of life; highly active; intravenous drug users; treatment outcomes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Martin LJ, Houston S, Yasui Y, Wild TC, Saunders LD. Rates of initial virolog-ical suppression and subsequent virological failure after initiating highly active antiretroviral therapy: The impact of Aboriginal ethnicity and injection drug use. Curr HIV Res. 2010;8(8):649–58. doi: 10.2174/157016210794088227. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Martin LJ, Houston S, Yasui Y, Wild TC, Saunders LD. All-cause and HIV-related mortality rates among HIV-infected patients after initiating highly active anti-retroviral therapy: The impact of Aboriginal ethnicity and injection drug use. Can J Public Health. 2011;102(2):90–96. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lima VD, Kretz P, Palepu A, Bonner S, Kerr T, Moore D, et al. Aboriginal status is a prognostic factor for mortality among antiretroviral naïve HIVpositive individuals first initiating HAART. AIDS Res Ther. 2006;3:14. doi: 10.1186/1742-6405-3-14. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dybul M, Fauci AS, Bartlett JG, Kaplan JE, Pau AK. Guidelines for using antiretroviral agents among HIV-infected adults and adolescents. Recommendations of the Panel on Clinical Practices for Treatment of HIV. MMWR Recomm Rep. 2002;51(RR-7):1–55. - PubMed
    1. Brandson EK, Fernandes KA, Palmer A, Clement K, Olson B, Lima VD, et al. HAART-full of life: Variations in quality of life among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples ever on antiretroviral therapy in BC. XVII International AIDS Conference. 2008 Aug 3-8; Mexico City, Mexico. Abstract no. THPE0818. Available at: http://www.iasociety.org/Default.aspx?pageId=11&abstractId=200718980 (Accessed March 6, 2012).

Publication types