Mildred LABAN1
1University of Buea Cameroon
CaHReF 2018, Yaoundé Conges hall, 08 – 11 January 2019 , OPHQ008
Background: HIV and Tuberculosis have led to the death of many over the years. The Quality of life of patients is not only influenced by the disease they suffer from but also other characteristics of the patients. Dealing with these characteristics will bring about improvement in their quality of life.
Objectif: To determine the quality of life of HIV and Tuberculosis patients and its impact on adherence to treatment in Fako Division, Cameroon.
Methodology: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in four selected HIV and TB treatment centres in Fako Division. The Qualities of Life of participants were determined using the World Health Organization Quality of Life-HIV BREF questionnaire and adherence to treatment was determined using self-report and the visual analogue scale. The participants were 263 HIV, Tuberculosis and HIV/Tuberculosis co-infected patients who were 21 years old and above and were on antiretroviral and/or Directly Observe Therapy short course for at least one month, mentally unstable patients were excluded. Data collected were analysed using the Statistical Package
Results: Most participants in the study had a good quality of life. TB/HIV co-infected patients had the poorest quality of life in all WHO quality of life domains except the environment domain as compared to HIV and Tuberculosis patients; physical functioning; (13.41, p-0.005), Level of Independence; (12.41, p-0.001), Social Relationships; (13.59, p-0.039), spiritual domain; (14.76, p-0.046), Psychological functioning (13.93, p-0.209) environmental domain (13.12, p-0.082). There was statistically no significant difference in the quality of life between men and women in the study. Most participants with a good quality of life had a high level of adherence to treatment (101(53.7%), p=0.012).
Conclusion/Recommandation: HIV/TB co-infected patients had the poorest Quality of life than HIV and TB patients. Quality of life of patients was not influenced by their socio-demographic characteristics. Also good quality of life was seen to be related to high level of adherence to treatment.
Recommendations:Â Increase in environmental health education to patients and the general public, increase in home care visits by health personnel in charge of health care of patients to encourage proper adherence.
Key Words: Quality of life, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis