Assessment of Health-Related Quality of Life and Associated Factors Among HIV/AIDS Patients on Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) at Ambo General Hospital, West Shewa, Ethiopia.

Background: Determining the degree of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and associated factors in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive people is of great importance.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the HRQoL and associated factors among HIV-infected patients who were on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) at Ambo General Hospital.

Methods: A study with a cross-sectional design was conducted on 296 HIV-infected patients who were on HAART at Ambo General Hospital from February 20 to May 20, 2019. Patients were recruited by a random sampling technique and a -value <0.05 was set as statistically significant. Th main outcome measure was HRQoL.

Results: The majority of study participants were female (56.8%). More than half (53%) of the participants had low overall HRQoL. Those who were married and who earned <1500 ETB were less likely to experience low overall HRQoL than single people (AOR: 4.41, =0.024) and those who earned more (AOR: 4.27, =0.000), respectively. Those with current illness and who had no HIV-positive family members were more likely to experience lower overall quality of life than those with no current illness (AOR: 32.29, =0.000) and with one HIV-positive family member (AOR: 4.03, =0.003), respectively. Those with recent WHO clinical stage I were less likely to experience a lower overall quality of life than those with stage II (AOR: 0.07, =0.000).

Conclusion: Current illness, recent WHO stage and having no HIV-positive family members were found to be strongly associated with lower quality of life in HIV-positive patients on antiretroviral therapy.