Health-related quality-of-life measurements in HIV/AIDS care

The measurement of health-related quality of life (HRQL) for patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is still in evolution. With the development of antiretroviral therapies and prophylaxis treatments for opportunistic infections, for many individuals HIV infection has become a chronic illness. Very few studies have been undertaken toward understanding the patient's experience of integrating HIV infection as a chronic illness into one's life and the impact of therapy on the quality of the patient's life. To stimulate research into this area, a review of existing studies, with an emphasis on different types of HRQL measurements was undertaken to identify a comprehensive set of measures that allow one to examine the more diffuse impact of the illness on activities of daily living within the social, physical, mental, and existential domains.