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Table 1 Demographic and clinical variables among people living with HIV in Southern (n = 109) and Northern (n = 136) Norway (n = 245)

From: Factors associated with health-related quality of life in people living with HIV in Norway

  

Gender

Hospital

All

n = 245

Women

n = 114

Men

n = 131

p-value

UNN

n = 136

SSHF

n = 109

p-value

Demographic variables

Age, (y) mean (SD)

43.8 (11.7)

41.7 (10.1)

45.6 (12.3)

.008*

44.3 (11.9)

43.0 (11.5)

.420

Cohabitation, n (%)

.037*

Living together

108 (44%)

60 (53%)

48 (37%)

.012*

68 (50%)

40 (37%)

 

Living alone

137 (56%)

54 (47%)

83 (63%)

 

68 (50%)

69 (63%)

 

Education, n (%)

   

 < .001*

  

.042*

 < 13 years

142 (58%)

80 (70%)

62 (47%)

 

71 (52%)

71 (65%)

 

 ≥ 13 years

103 (42%)

34 (30%)

69 (53%)

 

65 (48%)

38 (35%)

 

Employment status1, n (%)

.757

  

.072

Employed/student/pensioner

169 (70%)

79 (71%)

90 (69%)

 

101 (74%)

68 (64%)

 

Unemployed/rehabilitation/

disabled

74 (30%)

33 (29%)

41 (31%)

 

35 (26%)

39 (36%)

 

Native country/continent, n (%)

 < .001*

  

.950

Norway

81 (33%)

16 (14%)

65 (49%)

 

47 (35%)

34 (31%)

 

Rest of Europe

15 (6%)

5 (4%)

10 (7%)

 

8 (6%)

8 (7%)

 

Americas

10 (4%)

1 (1%)

9 (7%)

 

5 (4%)

5 (5%)

 

Asia

39 (16%)

30 (26%)

9 (7%)

 

22 (16%)

16 (15%)

 

Africa

100 (41%)

62 (54%)

38 (30%)

 

54 (40%)

46 (42%)

 

Citizenship2, n (%)

 < .001*

  

.731

Asylum seeker

8 (3%)

6 (5%)

2 (2%)

 

4 (3%)

4 (4%)

 

Refugee with residence permit

50 (21%)

26 (23%)

24 (18%)

 

30 (22%)

20 (18%)

 

Non-Western immigrant

45 (18%)

32 (28%)

13 (10%)

 

27 (20%)

18 (17%)

 

Western immigrant

8 (3%)

3 (3%)

5 (4%)

 

3 (2%)

5 (5%)

 

Norwegian Citizen

133 (55%)

46 (41%)

87 (66%)

 

72 (53%)

61 (56%)

 

Not informed closest relatives about HIV

53 (22%)

23 (18%)

30 (26%)

.097

19 (14%)

34 (31%)

.001*

Open about HIV

35 (14%)

23 (18%)

12 (11%)

.117

24 (18%)

11 (10%)

.093

Clinical variables

Time since diagnosis, (y) mean (SD)

9.4 (7.4)

9.5 (7.1)

9.3 (7.7)

.764

9.9

8.7

.195

Transmission route of HIV, n (%)

 < .001*

  

.553

Heterosexual

98 (40%)

53 (56%)

45 (34%)

 

63 (46%)

35 (32%)

 

Homosexual/MSM

31 (13%)

0

31 (24%)

 

18 (13%)

13 (12%)

 

Needle sharing/blood transfusion/perinatal

9 (4%)

3 (3%)

6 (5%)

 

5 (4%)

4 (4%)

 

Unknown

107 (43%)

39 (41%)

49 (37%)

 

50 (37%)

57 (52%)

 

Antiretroviral therapy, n (%)

229 (94%)

105 (92%)

124 (95%)

.429

128 (94%)

101 (93%)

.646

HIV viral load < 50 (copies/mL), n (%)

212 (86%)

98 (86%)

114 (87%)

.809

119 (88%)

93 (85%)

.620

CD4+ (× 109/L), mean (SD)

0.53 (0.26)

0.52 (0.22)

0.53 (0.29)

.566

0.53 (0.28)

0.53 (0.25)

.816

HSCL-25, mean (SD)

1.64 (0.58)

1.58 (0.48)

1.69 (0.65)

.156

1.57 (0.6)

1.74 (0.59)

.020*

Mental distress, at risk, n (%)

78 (32%)

31 (27%)

47 (40%)

.146

36 (27%)

42 (39%)

.044*

BDI-II3, mean (SD)

22.9 (14.1)

19.4 (9.8)

22.3 (12.3)

.277

21.9 (12.8)

23.8 (15.1)

.596

BDI-II3, n (%)

Minimal depression

16 (7%)

8 (7%)

8 (6%)

 

8 (6%)

8 (7%)

 

Mild depression

25 (10%)

8 (7%)

17 (13%)

 

14 (10%)

11 (10%)

 

Moderate depression

15 (6%)

8 (7%)

7 (5%)

 

5 (4%)

10 (9%)

 

Severe depression

20 (8%)

6 (5%)

14 (11%)

 

9 (7%)

11 (10%)

 

Post-traumatic stress disorder4, n (%)

16 (7%)

4 (4%)

12 (9%)

.077

8 (6%)

8 (7%)

.633

Drug abuse, at risk n (%)

18 (7%)

4 (4%)

14 (11%)

.032*

10 (7%)

9 (8%)

.793

Alcohol abuse, at risk, n (%)

36 (15%)

2 (2%)

34 (26%)

 < .001*

16 (12%)

20 (18%)

.148

Fatigued, n (%)

94 (38%)

38 (33%)

56 (43%)

.191

46 (34%)

48 (44%)

.102

Comorbidity, mean (SD)

0.4 (0.8)

0.3 (0.7)

0.5 (0.8)

.020*

0.6 (0.9)

0.2 (0.5)

 < .001*

  1. UNN University Hospital of North Norway, SSHF Southern Hospital of Norway
  2. 1Employment status, n = 243, 2 missing
  3. 2Citizenship, n = 244, 1 missing, MSM: men who have sex with men, CD4+ : T lymphocytes bearing the CD4 + receptor, HSCL-25: Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25, Mental distress, at risk: HSCL-25 > 1.75 (range 1–4)
  4. 3BDI-II: Beck Depression Inventory version 2 (range 0–63), minimal depression (0–13), mild depression (14–19), moderate depression (20–28), severe depression (29–63), performed on mental distress, at risk, n = 76, percentage shown for total n = 243, 2 missing
  5. 4Post-traumatic stress disorder: Post Traumatic Stress Scale-16 > 2,5 (range 0–4), n = 244, 1 missing, Drug abuse, at risk: Drug Use Disorder Identification Test > 4 (range 0–44), Alcohol abuse, at risk: Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test > 8 (range 0–40), Fatigued: Chalder Fatigue Scale > 4 (range 0–11), Comorbidity: comorbidity (range 0–3). Continuous variables are presented as the mean and standard deviation (SD) and categorical variables as number and percentage (%). Chi-squared (categorical variables) tests and Student’s t tests (continuous variables) were used to compare differences between groups
  6. *Significant at 5% level
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