The quality of life among men who have sex with men (MSM) living with and those not living with HIV in Abuja Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Our objective was to assess factors associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among men who have sex with men (MSM) living with or those not living with HIV in Nigeria. A cross-sectional subset of adult MSM in the ongoing TRUST/RV368 HIV prevention and treatment study were recruited and completed the World Health Organization quality of life in HIV infection (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire. The tool comprises physical health, psychological health, social relationships and environmental health domains from which scores were extracted. T-tests were used to compare mean HRQoL scores between participants living with or those not living with HIV and among persons living with HIV who had been on antiretroviral therapy for ≥1 year or <1 year. Of 322 study participants, 186 (57.8%) were living with HIV. The mean scores were significantly lower for participants living with HIV as compared to those not living with HIV in physical health, psychological health and social relationship domains. Among persons living with HIV and taking ART, scores were significantly lower for those whose duration was <1 year as compared to ≥1 year regarding physical health and psychological health. Strategies to improve HIV prevention and early detection and linkage to HIV care may improve HRQoL.

KEYWORDS:

• Men who have sex with men
• health-related quality of life
• HIV/AIDS
• sub-Saharan
• Nigeria and Africa

Disclosure statement

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

Ethics approval

The study was approved by the University of Maryland Baltimore Institutional Review Board; the Federal Capital Territory Health Research Ethics Committee, Abuja; and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research Institutional Review Board.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Institutes of Health [grant number D43TW010051, R01 AI120913, R01 MH099001, R01 MH110358]; Department of Health and Human Services/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Global AIDS Program [grant number NU2GGH002099]; Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., and the U.S. Department of Defense [grant number W81XWH-11-2-0174].