QUALITY OF LIFE OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV: IDENTIFICATION OF THE DETERMINANTS.

The high prevalence rate of HIV worldwide, including the Republic of Kazakhstan (the RK), in large cities in particular, underlies the tremendous significance of this medical condition for society, economy, demography and healthcare. The objective of this study was to identify the most important determinants of quality of life (QL) of people living with HIV in a large city. The study was carried out in 3 stages. At the first stage, the HIV morbidity and PLH mortality figures over the period of 10 years (2005-2014) in a metropolis (the city of Astana) were analyzed in comparison to the general ones for the Republic. At the second stage, social and demographic charecteristics of the respondents, as well as characretistics of their HIV status and medical activity were received with the use of a 49 question enquiry that we developed. At the third stage, the QL of persons infected with HIV was studied. The general SF-36 questionnaire was the main tool of tracking the QL changes. The sample consisted of 170 respondents selected based random quota sampling. Comparison of the QL levels by gender showed that across the majority of scales of the physical health componentand in general across the physical health component, the QL levels for males were higher than for females. At the same time as for the psychological health component figures, general psychological health component and the majority of scales were higher for females, however, the differences across all the scales were statistically non-significant (р>0.05). The QL figures were higher for individuals with secondary vocational and higher education, as well as for married ones. Comparison of the QL figures showed no interdependence between them and the period of time after HIV status was determined. Addictive substance consumption was identified to decrease the QL of people living with HIV. The study allowed us to identify the role of independent variables influencing the quality of life of people living with HIV in a large city.