Nursing Management Department, Beijing Ditan Hospital Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
School of Statistics, Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing, China.
BMC Public Health. 2024 Aug 28;24(1):2331. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-19728-8.
The symptom burden in people with HIV (PWH) is considerable. Nonetheless, the identification of a central symptom, or bridge symptom, among the myriad symptoms experienced by PWH remains unclear. This study seeks to establish networks of symptom experiences within different clusters and investigate the relationships and interconnectedness between these symptoms in PWH.
A multicenter, cross-sectional descriptive design was carried out in China over two periods: November 2021 to January 2022 and April 2022 to May 2022. A total of 711 PWH completed online questionnaires, providing information on demographics and the 27-item Self-Report Symptom Scale. The symptom network was analyzed using Network/Graph theory, allowing for the exploration of connections between physical, cognitive, and psychological symptoms. This analysis was based on data from a subset of 493 individuals out of the total 711 PWH.
A total of 493 PWH who exhibited symptoms out of a total of 711 PWH were analyzed. The average number of symptoms reported was 5.367. The most prevalent symptom was sleep disturbance (37.98%). In the node centrality analysis, a cognitive symptom, 'becoming confusing', emerged as the most central symptom with significant values for node centrality (strength = 1.437, betweenness = 140.000, closeness = 0.003). Fever was identified as the bridge symptom with the highest bridge strength (0.547), bridge closeness (0.053), lower bridge betweenness (23.000), and bridge expectedinfluence (0.285). Overall, our network displayed good accuracy and stability.
Early identification and assessment of the central or bridge symptoms should be emphasized in clinical practice. According to the findings from network analysis, healthcare providers should proactively explore intervention strategies or bundle care to alleviate the burden of symptoms and enable anticipatory care.
HIV 感染者（PWH）的症状负担相当大。然而，在 PWH 所经历的无数症状中，确定一个核心症状或桥梁症状仍然不清楚。本研究旨在建立不同簇中症状体验的网络，并调查 PWH 中这些症状之间的关系和相互联系。
在中国进行了一项多中心、横断面描述性设计，分为两个阶段：2021 年 11 月至 2022 年 1 月和 2022 年 4 月至 5 月。共有 711 名 PWH 完成了在线问卷，提供了人口统计学和 27 项自我报告症状量表的信息。使用网络/图论分析症状网络，以探索身体、认知和心理症状之间的联系。该分析基于总共 711 名 PWH 中 493 名出现症状的个体的数据。
对总共 711 名 PWH 中出现症状的 493 名 PWH 进行了分析。报告的平均症状数为 5.367。最常见的症状是睡眠障碍（37.98%）。在节点中心度分析中，认知症状“变得困惑”作为最中心的症状出现，节点中心度的显著值为强度=1.437，介数=140.000，接近度=0.003。发热被确定为桥接症状，具有最高的桥接强度（0.547）、桥接接近度（0.053）、较低的桥接介数（23.000）和桥接预期影响（0.285）。总的来说，我们的网络具有良好的准确性和稳定性。
在临床实践中，应强调早期识别和评估核心或桥梁症状。根据网络分析的结果，医疗保健提供者应积极探索干预策略或捆绑护理，以减轻症状负担并实现预期护理。
