Prevalence of psychological distress among people living with HIV/AIDS: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

Although people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are known to be vulnerable to psychological distress (PD), little is known about the prevalence of PD among PLWHA. A systematic literature search of several databases was conducted from inception to August 2021 focusing on studies reporting on PD symptoms among PLWHA. The overall prevalence estimates were pooled using a random-effects meta-analysis. Differences according to study-level characteristics were examined using stratified meta-analysis. We pooled and analyzed data from 15 studies comprising 5593 PLWHA. The prevalence rate of PD among PLWHA was 43.7% (95% Confidence Interval: 29.9–57.5%). Subgroup analyses by gender, country, CD4 count, employment status and ever attended school found no statistically significant differences in the prevalence of PD. Heterogeneity in the prevalence of PD among PLWHA was partially explained by the assessment tool. Further large-scale studies of high quality are warranted to identify risk factors of PD in PLWHA in their respective socio-cultural contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Prevalence
• psychological distress
• HIV/AIDS
• systematic review
• meta-analysis

Acknowledgements

All authors made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work. MHQ and ZF searched for relevant articles and did inclusion and exclusion; LYT, WSJ and XY did data extraction; MY statistically analyzed the research data; MHQ and ZF wrote the manuscript together; ZHM edited the manuscript for submission. All authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Guangdong Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program [grant number S202112121119X] and Nursing Research Project of Southern Medical University [grant number Z2021007].