Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, İzmir, Turkey
Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, İzmir, Turkey
Turk J Med Sci. 2020 Dec 17;50(8):1792-1800. doi: 10.3906/sag-2006-140.
BACKGROUND/AIM: The emergence of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has had an enormous emotional impact on some vulnerable groups, such as people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (PLHIV). This study was planned with the aim of assessing the anxiety levels of PLHIV and the sources of their anxiety.
A web-based questionnaire was sent to PLHIV using the virtual snowball sampling method. The questionnaire included questions about sociodemographic status, information about HIV infection, and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). Additionally, some opinions of the participants about COVID-19 were asked.
A total of 307 respondents, with a median age of 33 years, from 32 different cities, participated in the study. More than half of the respondents reported the belief that COVID-19 was not sufficiently well-known by the medical community and nearly 45% believed that they would have more complications if they contracted COVID-19. One-fourth of the participants had anxiety. Having a preexisting psychiatric disorder, perceiving that they were practicing insufficient preventive measures, not being sure about the presence of any individuals with COVID-19 in their environment, and living with a household member with a chronic disease were found to be the risk factors of PLHIV for having anxiety during this pandemic. The BAI scores were correlated with the patient-reported anxiety levels about the spread of COVID-19 in Turkey, acquiring COVID-19, transmitting COVID-19 to another person, and transmitting HIV to another person. Among the stated conditions, the most common concern was the spread of COVID-19 all over the country, while the least common was transmitting HIV to someone else.
The results revealed that a significant proportion of the sample had anxiety, and the findings were essential for developing evidence-based strategies for decreasing the anxiety of PLHIV, especially for those who had risk factors and to provide them with better health care during this pandemic or other pandemic-like crises.
背景/目的：2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）的爆发对一些弱势群体产生了巨大的情绪影响，例如人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV）感染者（PLHIV）。本研究旨在评估 PLHIV 的焦虑水平及其焦虑的来源。
采用虚拟雪球抽样法向 PLHIV 发送基于网络的问卷。问卷包括社会人口统计学状况、HIV 感染信息和贝克焦虑量表（BAI）的信息。此外，还询问了一些参与者对 COVID-19 的看法。
共有 307 名来自 32 个不同城市、中位年龄为 33 岁的受访者参加了研究。超过一半的受访者表示认为医学界对 COVID-19 的了解不够充分，近 45%的人认为如果感染 COVID-19，他们会有更多的并发症。四分之一的参与者有焦虑症。研究发现，有先前存在的精神疾病、认为自己采取的预防措施不足、不确定自己的环境中是否有 COVID-19 患者，以及与患有慢性病的家庭成员同住，是 PLHIV 在大流行期间焦虑的危险因素。BAI 评分与患者对 COVID-19 在土耳其的传播、感染 COVID-19、将 COVID-19 传播给他人以及将 HIV 传播给他人的焦虑程度相关。在所陈述的条件中，最常见的担忧是 COVID-19 在全国范围内的传播，而最不常见的是将 HIV 传播给他人。
结果表明，样本中有相当一部分人有焦虑症，这些发现对于制定基于证据的策略来降低 PLHIV 的焦虑水平至关重要，特别是对于那些有风险因素的人，并在大流行期间或其他类似大流行的危机期间为他们提供更好的医疗保健。
