Health-Related Quality of Life of HIV-Infected Children on Complex Antiretroviral Therapy at Home

The study describes quality of life as perceived by parents and measured by the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ-28) for a convenience sample of 33 HIV-infected children age 5 to 18 years cared for at home on complex antiretroviral drug regimens. When compared with normative data on healthy U.S. children, parent reports for the HIV-infected children did not differ significantly on the following CHQ concepts: role/social related to emotional, behavioral or physical problems; bodily pain; behavior; mental health; self-esteem; impact on parental time; family activities; and family cohesion. Parents perceived their children to be functioning at a level significantly lower than the norm in general health (t −6.47, p = .000), physical functioning (t −2.37, p = .024), and physical summary (t −3.80, p = .001). Parental impact-emotional was impressively higher than the norm (t −3.74, p = .001). Differences were independent of gender, primary language, ethnicity, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention clinical classifications for pediatric HIV disease.

Key words:  quality of life , health status , caregivers , children , HIV