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. 2011 Aug 31;11:677. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-11-677

Table 1.

Background characteristics of participants (N = 321)

Characteristic na (%)
Sociodemographics
Gender
 Male 137 (57.3)
 Female 184 (42.7)
Age (years)
 20-29 78 (34.2)
 30-39 165 (47.0)
 40-60 76 (18.8)
Current marital status
 Unmarried 101 (31.5)
 Married 220 (68.5)
Education levelb
 No formal education 58 (18.6)
 Primary (1-5 yrs.) 68 (21.9)
 Lower secondary (6-10 yrs.) 156 (50.2)
 Higher secondary and above (11+ yrs.) 29 (9.3)
Monthly income (NRs)c (Median = 4000)
 0 89 (28.3)
 200-4000 80 (25.4)
 4001-300000 146 (46.3)
Any children
 No 102 (31.8)
 Yes 219 (68.2)
Sexual orientation
 Heterosexual 319 (99.4)
 Homo- or bi-sexual 2 (0.6)
Clinical and psychosocial characteristics
Months since first testing HIV+ (Median = 53)
 1-53 158 (50.0)
 54+ 158 (50.0)
Months on ART (Median = 24)
 Not currently on ART 87 (27.2)
 1-24 129 (40.3)
 25+ 104 (32.5)
Experience of TB diagnosis since testing HIV+
 No 236 (73.5)
 Yes 85 (26.5)
Bothersome HIV symptom count (Median = 3)
 0-3 173 (53.9)
 4-20 148 (46.1)
Smoking status
 Never smoker 129 (40.2)
 Former smoker 40 (12.5)
 Current smoker 152 (47.4)
Injection drug use historyd
 Never user 191 (60.1)
 Former user 100 (31.4)
 Current user 27 (8.5)
Alcohol use, last 30 days
 No 281 (87.5)
 Yes 40 (12.5)
Marijuana use, last 6 months
 No 290 (90.3)
 Yes 31 (9.7)
Internalized AIDS stigma score (Median = 4)
 0-4 187 (58.3)
 5-7 134 (41.7)
Beck Depression Inventory scoree
 < 20 239 (74.5)
 20+ 82 (25.5)

NRs, Nepalese Rupees. ART, antiretroviral therapy.

a Total sample size varies due to missing data.

b Based on the structure of the Nepalese education system.

c 4000 NRs = US $55 approximately, as of February 2010.

d Former users: participants reporting a lifetime history of injecting drug use but no use in the last 6 months classified. Current users: participants reporting injecting drug use in the last 6 months. Never users: participants reporting no lifetime history of injecting drug use. Three participants who indicated a lifetime history of injecting drug use did not respond to the question regarding 6-month use and hence could not be distinguished as former or current users.

e A score of 20 or more on the Beck Depression Inventory defined the presence of moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms, based on clinical validation of the scale in Nepal (sensitivity = 0.73, specificity = 0.91) [48].