Dissertation
Health-related quality of life in the era of highly active anti-retroviral therapy in a United States' military cohort of individuals living with human immunodeficiency virus
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
May 2015
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/etd-7329
Abstract
With the introduction of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART), infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has evolved from being a progressive fatal illness to a manageable chronic disease. However, the improved control of HIV with HAART is associated with adverse drug effects. Also, as people living with HIV (PLWH) grow older they are faced with greater burden of age-associated diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular and renal diseases all of which may affect the quality of life of PLWH. Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is a patient-centered outcome measure that has the potential to improve care by assessing and monitoring treatment effects, enhancing communication between patient and provider, and tracking changes in functional status over time. The goal of this dissertation was to examine the relationship between HIV-infection, HAART use and HRQOL in a large United States' Military Cohort of individuals living with HIV, the HIV Natural History Study (NHS). In the first study, we examined the baseline factors associated with HRQOL in the NHS. In the second study, we further evaluated predictors of changes in HRQOL over time. In the third study, we examined whether HRQOL measures could be a useful tool in predicting time to hospitalization in our cohort
Metrics
Details
- Title
- Health-related quality of life in the era of highly active anti-retroviral therapy in a United States' military cohort of individuals living with human immunodeficiency virus
- Creators
- Leonard Emuren - DU
- Contributors
- Seth Welles (Advisor) - Drexel University (1970-)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Dana and David Dornsife School of Public Health; Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 7329; 991014632158704721