Health-Related Quality of Life in Well-treated People With HIV and Comparators Over an 8-year Period: A Longitudinal...

People with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) experience more comorbidities, which can reduce health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We compared HRQoL and depressive symptoms over 8 years in people with and without HIV in the AGEhIV study.

We assessed HRQoL biennially from 2010 to 2020 using 36-item Short Form Survey (SF-36) Physical and Mental Component Scores (PCS and MCS) and measured depressive symptoms with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Participants with ≥1 SF-36 were included; people with HIV not on antiretroviral therapy (ART) or with HIV-1 ribonucleic acid (RNA) > 200 copies/mL at inclusion were excluded. Mean PCS and MCS were compared between groups using mixed-effects linear regression adjusted for sociodemographics, lifestyle, and comorbidity count, with an HIV status × visit interaction. Clinically relevant depressive symptoms (CES-D ≥ 16) were analyzed using mixed-effects logistic regression.

We included 522 people with HIV and 532 comparators, predominantly Dutch men who have sex with men, median ages of 52.9 and 52.1 years, respectively. Over a median 8.0-year follow-up, mean PCS and MCS scores were lower in people with HIV by -1.69 (95% CI, -2.28 to -1.10) and -1.25 (95% CI, -1.97 to -0.53). Clinically relevant depressive symptoms were more frequent in people with HIV (adjusted odds ratio: 2.74; 95% CI, 1.40-5.37). Changes in all endpoints over time did not differ between groups.

Well-treated, middle-aged people with HIV may retain HRQoL comparable to individuals without HIV, with differences that, although statistically significant, might be of unclear clinical relevance due to small effect sizes. Changes in HRQoL and depressive symptoms over time do not differ between groups.