Clinical correlates of psychiatric morbidity and risk factors for HIV patients in Nigeria’s Niger delta region

BACKGROUND: HIV/AIDS is a chronic multi-systemic disorder with associated psychiatric co-morbidity of significant health importance. There is paucity of information on psychiatric morbidity among HIV patients in the undeveloped world. AIM: The study sought to investigate the occurrence of psychiatric disorders and its associated clinical factors in people living with HIV/AIDS. METHODS: Using a systematic sampling method, 353 subjects were recruited into two groups; HIV positive subjects from the RVD clinic and HIV negative subjects from the GOPD clinic. They were assessed using a self-designed questionnaire to elicit socio-demographic and clinical variables. The subjects were screened for psychological distress with a 12 item General Health Questionnaire and diagnoses made using Present State Examination (PSE) manual (version 10). Data was analysed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS, version 15). RESULTS: Of the 353 subjects, 241 completed the study (68% participation); 89 were HIV positive and 152 were HIV negative. There was significant difference between the mean duration of treatment for HIV positive respondents when their duration of illness was considered. Logistic regression analysis showed that the significant risk factors for psychiatric co-morbidity in these patients include presence of social support, female gender and persistent fever. CONCLUSION: An interplay of genetic, physical and psychological factors in the development of psychiatric morbidity in HIV positive patients has been highlighted. Further studies will elucidate the exact contribution of each of these to the onset of psychopathology in these patients