Prevalence of depressive symptoms in people living with HIV/aids in the Brazilian city

Carolina de Castro Castrighini, Renata Karina Reis, Lis Aparecida de Souza Neves, Fabíola Garcia Morales, Elucir Gir

Background Several challenges are imposed in the course of HIV/aids, including the mental health care. This study aims to assess depressive symptoms of people living with HIV/aids and correlate with sociodemographics and clinical factors.

Methods This is a cross-sectional study, conducted in two specialised ambulatory care to individuals with HIV/AIDS located in a city in the interior. We evaluated sociodemographic and clinical variables. For evaluation of depressive symptoms was used Beck Depression Inventory.

Results The study included 331 people living with HIV/AIDS, and 167 (50.5%) were male. The mean age was 39 years. It was found that most 195 (58.9%) of subjects had up to 8 years of study. Refers clinical characteristics showed that 156 (47.1%) subjects were classified as AIDS, 267 (80.7%) had CD4 above 200 cells/mm3 and 176 (53.2%) had no others comorbidities. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 29.6% (BDI > 16), with 6.6% classified with mild symptoms (BDI 16–20), 12.4% moderate (20 to 29) and 10.6% (BDI 30–63) with severe symptoms.

Conclusions Data analysis showed that most participants were young, males, with low education which corroborates with the profile found in this population. Services and health professionals, especially nurses, should be able to provide comprehensive care to individuals with HIV/aids, considering clinical and emotional aspects.