Associations between symptom severity and treatment burden in people living with HIV.
Nathanial Schreiner, Joseph Perazzo, Sarah Digennaro and 3 others
PMID 32643309WHAT IT FOUND
In 103 adults with HIV, higher fatigue was linked to greater burden of managing medications, physical activity, and overall self-care.
People diagnosed more recently reported higher burden. Diet burden was not clearly linked to symptoms.
Key findings
01Fatigue was associated with higher cumulative treatment burden after controlling for chronic conditions and years since HIV diagnosis.
02Fatigue was also associated with higher physical activity and medication treatment burden after controlling for chronic conditions and years since HIV diagnosis.
03The adjusted model for diet-related treatment burden was not statistically significant.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that fatigue caused treatment burden or that treating fatigue would reduce burden. The sample was small, from one site, and recruited by convenient sampling, so it may not represent all people with HIV. Most participants were African American men, and HIV-related stigma was not included in the model. Symptoms and burden were measured by self-report questionnaires. The diet-related burden item also included smoking and alcohol, making diet-specific interpretation unclear.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that reducing fatigue will lower treatment burden. This was a cross-sectional survey, so it showed associations at one time and did not test any treatment.