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Abstract
Depression in people with HIV has wide-spread implications related to faster progression to AIDS, poor drug compliance, and lower quality of life (QOL). Although there have been studies that have examined the role of sociodemographic variables in people with HIV, there have only been a few on the assessment of QOL and its association with depression among people with HIV in South India. The objectives of this study were to diagnose major depressive disorder (MDD) and examine the association of depression with health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among people with HIV in coastal South India. Structured questionnaires detailing sociodemographic and HIV related variables were filled out by 103 patients with HIV attending a tertiary care center. Interviews were carried out by a psychiatrist to diagnose ICD-10 MDD and a clinical psychologist to rate the severity of depression using the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD). Subjective HRQOL was assessed using HIV/AIDS targeted quality of life questionnaire in these patients. Fifty patients were diagnosed with MDD. Among them, 23 (46%) were mildly depressed, 19 (38%) were moderately depressed, 7 (14%) were severely depressed, and 1 (2%) was very severely depressed. Mean QOL scores for all dimensions except sexual function were significantly and inversely correlated (p<0.05) with HAMD implying that patients with greater severity of depressive symptoms had poorer HRQOL. Individuals with ICD-10 diagnosis of MDD presented significantly lower scores of QOL compared to individuals without MDD. The implication is that early diagnosis and referral of depressed patients needs to be incorporated into intervention programs to improve patient outcomes and QOL. More research is needed to investigate the impact of antidepressant therapy on QOL using this study as a comparison group in a similar population.