Table 1.
Socio-demographic, HIV disease-related, and QoL-related characteristics for a sample of 201 HIV patients in Georgia.
| Age in years | |
| Mean (±SD) | 40.3 (±10) |
| Sex, n (%) | |
| Male | 145 (72.1) |
| Female | 56 (27.9) |
| Education,a n (%) | |
| High | 76 (39.0) |
| Low | 119 (61.0) |
| Route of transmission, n (%) | |
| IDU | 69 (34.3) |
| Heterosexual contact | 116 (57.7) |
| Blood transfusion | 3 (1.5) |
| Homosexual/MSM | 10 (5.0) |
| Unknown | 3 (1.5) |
| Time since diagnosis in years | |
| Mean (±SD) | 2.9 (±3.5) |
| CD4 in cells/mm3 | |
| Mean (±SD) | 358.5 (±200) |
| ARV treatment, n (%) | |
| Yes | 159 (79.0) |
| No | 42 (21.0) |
| Co-infection with hepatitis C, n (%) | |
| Yes | 52 (26.0) |
| No | 149 (74.0) |
| Feeling ill (self-report), n (%) | |
| Yes | 81 (40.3) |
| No | 120 (59.7) |
| Self-reported health, n (%) | |
| Very bad | 14 (7.0) |
| Bad | 25 (12.4) |
| Not good and not bad | 108 (53.7) |
| Good | 54 (26.9) |
| Very good | 0 (0) |
| General QoL,b n (%) | |
| Poor quality of life | 128 (63.7) |
| Good quality of life | 73 (36.3) |
| Scores for general QoL and 6 domains (Mean ±SD) | |
| General QoL (Overall QoL & general health perception) | 3.0 ± 0.7 |
| Physical domain | 13.3 ± 3.6 |
| Psychological domain | 12.9 ± 2.2 |
| Level of independence domain | 12.2 ± 3.3 |
| Social relationship domain | 14.8 ± 2.7 |
| Environment domain | 12.8 ± 2.3 |
| Spirituality domain | 14.5 ± 3.2 |
Variable Education has missing data for six participants; education level is considered high if a person finished University and it is considered low if a person did not finish University and has only secondary education.
General QoL is defined as “Poor” if the score of general QoL and overall health perception is less than or equal to 3 points and it is defined as “Good” if the score is more than 3 points. General QoL score is derived from the questionnaire as the mean of question 1 (“How would you rate your quality of life?”) and question 2 (How satisfied are you with your health?”) based on the Manual for Scoring and Coding WHOQOL-HIV-BREF by WHO. It ranges from 1 to 5, with 1 corresponding to very poor QoL and 5 corresponding to very good QoL.