Title
Pain and Physical and Psychological Symptoms in Ambulatory HIV Patients in the Current Treatment Era
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
3-2012
Publication Source
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
Volume
43
Issue
3
Start Page
638
Last Page
645
DOI
10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2011.04.019
Abstract
Context
HIV infection has become a manageable chronic disease. There are few studies of pain and symptoms in the current treatment era.
Objectives
The primary objective was to determine the prevalence of and risk factors for pain and physical and psychological symptoms in a population of ambulatory HIV patients.
Methods
We performed a cross-sectional study using the Brief Pain Inventory and the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale.
Results
We evaluated 156 individuals with a median age of 47.5 years (range 21–71), median time since HIV diagnosis of 11 years (range 3(interquartile range [IQR] 308–683). The majority (125, 80.6%) had an undetectable viral load. Seventy-six (48.7%) reported pain, of whom 39 (51.3%) had moderate to severe pain, and 43 (57.3%) had pain that caused moderate to severe interference with their lives. The median number of symptoms was eight (IQR 5–14.5) of 32 queried. In multivariable analyses, patients with psychiatric illness were 39.8% more likely to have pain (P
Conclusion
Pain and other physical and psychological symptoms were common among ambulatory HIV patients. Pain and symptoms were strongly associated with psychiatric illness and IV drug use. Future investigation should evaluate interventions that include psychiatric and substance abuse components for HIV patients with pain.
Copyright/Permission Statement
NOTICE: This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms, may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, Volume 43, Issue 3, March 2012, DOI: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2011.04.019.
Keywords
HIV, pain, symptons, antiretroviral therapy (ART), treatment
Recommended Citation
Merlin, Jessica S.; Cen, Liyi; Praestgaard, Amy; Turner, Michelle; Obando, Aura; Alpert, Craig; Woolston, Sophie; Casarett, David; Kostman, Jay R.; Gross, Robert; and Frank, Ian, "Pain and Physical and Psychological Symptoms in Ambulatory HIV Patients in the Current Treatment Era" (2012). Botswana-UPenn Scholarly Publications. 27.
https://repository.upenn.edu/botswana_schol/27
Date Posted: 13 November 2014
This document has been peer reviewed.