Associations of clinical parameters with health-related quality of life inhospitalized persons with HIV disease

To assess the associations of clinical parameters with health-related quali ty of life (HRQOL) in hospitalized patients with HIV a cross-sectional surv ey aid medical record review was conducted. Medical record reviews for clin ical data were completed for 217 hospitalized, HIV-positive individuals. HR QOL was measured in face-to-face interviews using a 44-item survey instrume nt that yielded II multi-item scales. Internal consistency reliability was adequate for the II HRQOL scales. HRQOL scores were significantly lower for our hospitalized sample compared to a previous sa,npk of ambulatory clinic al trial patients. As expected, individuals reporting more days spent in be d due to illness had significantly lower HRQOL than those reporting fewer d ays spent in bed due to illness. In addition, those with greater severity o f illness had significantly lower HRQOL than persons with less severe illne ss. In multivariate models, severity of illness and the number of disabilit y days due to illness were significantly associated with worse HRQOL, contr olling for CD4 count, symptoms and other patient characteristics. Severity of illness and disability days due to illness are associated with poorer fu nctioning and well-being in hospitalized persons with HIV disease. HRQOL me asures are useful tools for assessing the effects of HIV disease on the day -to-day life of individuals with HIV disease.