Publication Abstract Display
Type: Published Abstract
Title: Role of symptoms in health-related quality of life assessment in HIV.
Authors: Squier HC, Kochever R, Kaplan RM, Grant I
Year: 1995
Publication: Annals of Behavioral Medicine
Volume: 17 Issue: S Pages: S182
Abstract:Method of outcomes assessment differ in the role they ascribe to symptoms. Some approaches disregard symptoms because they are subjective and not verifiable. Others argue that encoding biases in symptom reporting are more associated with personality factors than disease state. However, the emerging emphasis on patient experience in outcomes research accepts symptom reports at face value. The most commonly used general health status outcome measure (SF-36) separates symptoms into subscales based on factor analysis. This assumes that symptom clustering is equivalent across all patient groups. This study administered the Quality of Well-being (QWB) Scale to 622 HIV infected patients and controls matched by demographic variables and life style. The QWB includes a comprehensive list of general symptoms and problems. The symptom responses were subject to factor analysis. The results suggests that the primary factor included that predominant symptoms of advancing HIV infection. These were trouble remembering, generalized pain, sick of upset stomach, fatigue, depression, trouble sleeping, and anxiety. Correlational analysis suggested that the symptom factors were largely unrelated to biological measures of disease severity, including CD4+ cells and disease state. These physiological outcomes were more closely associated with behavioral dysfunction. The results challenge the idea that mental and physical symptoms are necessarily separate dimensions.

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