Psychosocial Correlates of Body Image and Lipodystrophy in Women Aging With HIV.
Greer A Raggio, Sara E Looby, Gregory K Robbins and 4 others
PMID 31842064WHAT IT FOUND
Among 63 older women with HIV, more body parts affected by fat redistribution were linked to greater body image distress and anxiety.
Depression symptoms were higher but not clearly linked; social support was not associated. This does not show the fat changes caused the distress.
Key findings
0181% reported one or more body parts affected by lipodystrophy since starting ART, and 47.4% were generally dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their appearance.
02Lipodystrophy severity, defined as 0, 1-2, or 3-6 body parts affected, was associated with greater body image disturbance and anxiety, and the associations remained after controlling for age and duration of HIV infection.
03Increased belt/waist size was associated with poorer body image and more severe depressive symptoms, and increased chest/breast size was associated with poorer body image.
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What it does not show
The study measured body changes and mood at one visit, so it cannot show that lipodystrophy caused body image distress, anxiety, or depression. Lipodystrophy was self-reported, not confirmed by physician diagnosis, medical records, or body composition measures. The body change measure asked only yes or no for each area, so it did not capture how severe each change was. There was no HIV-uninfected comparison group, so natural aging could have contributed to reported fat changes. The sample was small and did not include data on previous ART regimens, so medication differences and other factors were not controlled. The sample had 86.1% power to detect an effect size of 0.4 among 60 women taking ART, so smaller differences may have been missed. The women were English-speaking, aged 45 years or older, and recruited in Boston, so the results may not apply to younger women or other settings.
Declared interests
The article is listed as supported by NIH extramural research. No author conflict-of-interest statement is provided in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that HIV treatment caused the body changes or that the body changes caused depression and anxiety. The study measured body changes and mood at one visit, relied on self-report, and had no HIV-uninfected comparison, so it shows associations only.