Cognitive Functioning and Its Relationship with Self-Stigma in Men with HIV Who Have Sex with Men: The Mediating Role of Health-Related Quality of Life

Figures & data

Table 1 Participants’ Sociodemographic and HIV-Related Clinical Variables

		n = 70
Age		45.41±12.67
Educational level	Primary	8 (11.4%)
	Secondary	11 (15.7%)
	Advanced	26 (37.2%)
	University	25 (35.7%)
Nationality	Spanish	54 (77.1%)
Employment	Employed	55 (78.6%)
	Unemployed	11 (15.7%)
	Pension	4 (5.7%)
Income level (monthly)	< 1000€	9 (12.9%)
	1001–1500€	14 (20%)
	1501–2000€	16 (22.9%)
	2001–2500€	13 (18.6%)
	>2500€	18 (25.7%)
HIV-related variables	Time since HIV diagnosis (years)	9.85±6.42
	Current CD4+ lymphocytes (cells/µL.)	815.83±278.62
	Nadir CD4+ lymphocyte (cells/µL.)	454.39±201.922
	Viral load ≤50 cop. ARN/mL	66 (95.7%)

Table 2 Pearson Correlation Coefficients Among Neurocognitive Domains, Physical, and Mental Health Summary of HRQoL and HIV Self-Stigma

		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Neurocognitive domains	1.Reasoning	1	0.639**	0.484**	0.547**	0.572**	0.041	0.037	−0.047
	2.Memory		1	0.517**	0.623**	0.719**	0.257*	0.291*	−0.276*
	3.Attention			1	0.583**	0.625**	0.118	0.099	−0.046
	4.Coordination				1	0.584**	0.029	0.011	−0.089
	5.Perception					1	0.066	0.031	−0.082
HRQoL domains	6.PHS						1	0.799**	−0.428**
	7.MHS							1	−0.596**
	8.HIV self-stigma								1

Notes: *p<0.05; **p<0.01.

Abbreviations: PHS, physical health summary; MHS, mental health summary.

Table 3 Regression Analyses of Sociodemographic Variables, Memory, and HRQoL as Predictors of HIV Self-Stigma

Variable	HIV Self-Stigma
	Model 1
	B	SE	β	p	95% CI
Reasoning	0.008	0.008	0.168	0.296	[−0.007, 0.023]
Memory	−0.030	0.010	−0.551	0.005	[−0.050, -0.009]
Attention	0.001	0.008	0.017	0.915	[−0.015, 0.017]
Coordination	0.003	0.010	0.049	0.769	[−0.018, 0.024]
Perception	0.010	0.010	0.178	0.348	[−0.011, 0.030]
F(5.69) = 1.816, p =0.122 R^2 =0.056
	Model 2
	B	SE	β	p	95% CI
Reasoning	0.004	0.007	0.074	0.591	[−0.010, 0.017]
Memory	−0.008	0.010	−0.149	0.413	[−0.028, 0.012]
Attention	0.006	0.007	0.109	0.431	[−0.008, 0.020]
Coordination	−0.005	0.009	−0.081	0.576	[−0.023, 0.013]
Perception	−0.001	0.009	−0.027	0.869	[−.019, 0.016]
PHS	0.072	0.088	0.137	0.413	[−0.103, 0.247]
MHS	−0.356	0.091	−0.674	0.000	[−0.538, −0.173]
F(7.69) = 5.554, p =0.000 R^2 =0.316 ΔR^2 =0.261, p =0.000

Figure 1 Differences in HIV self-stigma between participants presenting high and low memory performance in the neurocognitive evaluation.

Figure 2 Results of multiple mediation analyses exploring the mediating effect of Physical Health Summary and Mental Health Summary on the association between memory and HIV self-stigma (**p < 0.01; *p < 0.05). The presented values are standardised regression coefficients where: “a₁” indicates the standardised regression coefficient in the association between memory and Physical Health Summary; “a₂” indicates the standardised regression coefficient in the association between memory and Mental Health Summary, “b₁” indicates the standardised regression coefficient in the association between Physical Health Summary and HIV self-stigma; “b₂” indicates the standardised regression coefficient in the association between Mental Health Summary and HIV self-stigma; “c” indicates an indirect effect and “c´” represents a direct effect in the association between memory and HIV self-stigma. Dashed lines represent non-significant effects.