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. 2013 Jul-Aug;17(4):444-9.
doi: 10.1016/j.bjid.2012.11.011. Epub 2013 Jun 3.

Psychopathology and psychosocial adjustment in patients with HIV-associated lipodystrophy

Anna Barata  1 , Jorge Malouf, Mar Gutierrez, Gracia María Mateo, Maria Antònia Sambeat, Ignasi Gich, Josep Cadafalch, Juan Wulff, Pere Domingo
Affiliations

Psychopathology and psychosocial adjustment in patients with HIV-associated lipodystrophy

Anna Barata et al. Braz J Infect Dis. 2013 Jul-Aug.

Abstract

Objective: To study whether patients with HIV-1 associated lipodystrophy (LD) on highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) have more psychopathology and worse psychosocial adjustment than a similar group without this syndrome.

Methods: In a cross-sectional, observational study we compared 47 HIV-1 infected patients with LD (LD group) with 39 HIV-1 infected patients without LD (non-LD group). All participants were on HAART. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Goldberg Health Questionnaire (GHQ-60) were administered. Levels of familial, work and social adjustment and adjustment to stressful events were evaluated in a semi-structured interview. Clinical information was extracted from the clinical records.

Results: In the univariate analysis patients with LD showed higher state anxiety scores (p=0.009) and worse work adjustment (p=0.019) than those without LD. A total of 45.3% of LD patients scored above the cut-off point on the trait anxiety scale, and over 33.3% scored above the cut-off point on the BDI, GHQ and state anxiety scales. However, in multivariate analyses LD was not independently associated with psychopathology or with worse adjustment in the studied areas.

Conclusions: The finding that LD was not a predictor of greater psychopathology or worse psychosocial adjustment in HIV-1 infected patients, despite the high scores found, suggests that factors not taken into account in this study, such as LD severity and self-perception should have been included in the analysis. Further studies including a greater number of variables and a larger sample size will advance our understanding of this complex condition.

Keywords: HIV; Lypodystrophy; Psychopathology; Psychosocial.

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