People who living with HIV/AIDS also have a high prevalence of anxiety disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Jiahao Ji; Yang Zhang; Yundong Ma; Lin Jia; Miaotian Cai; Zhen Li; Tong Zhang; Caiping Guo

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1259290

People who living with HIV/AIDS also have a high prevalence of anxiety disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Front Psychiatry. 2024 Feb 6:15:1259290. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1259290. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Jiahao Ji^#¹, Yang Zhang^#^{1

2}, Yundong Ma^#^{3

4}, Lin Jia¹, Miaotian Cai⁵, Zhen Li¹, Tong Zhang^{1

2}, Caiping Guo¹

Affiliations

¹ Center for Infectious Diseases, Beijing Youan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
² Beijing Institute of Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention and Control, Beijing, China.
³ Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
⁴ Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
⁵ Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Beijing Youan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: An estimated 301 million people worldwide suffer from anxiety disorders. People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are particularly prone to anxiety disorders that could interfere with the important developmental process in an individual's development and ultimately result in a wide range of negative mental, physical, and psychosocial consequences, as well as poor quality of life in those population groups. Early intervention for anxiety disorders can reverse some of the physical damage caused by anxiety. However, based on systematic reviews and meta-analyses, the specific prevalence of anxiety disorders in PLWHA remains unknown.

Method: We conducted a literature search on PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science up to 22 October 2022. A random-effects meta-analysis was used to pool prevalence rates from the included studies. Sensitivity and subgroup analyses were performed to identify the possible sources of heterogeneity and to compare the prevalence estimates across groups. The Joanna Briggs Institute's Quality Assessment Checklist was used to assess the quality of the included studies. Cochran's Q and I² tests were used to assess the between-study heterogeneity.

Results: Ten studies with a total of 238,570 cases were included for the final analysis. Results showed that 15.5% of HIV/AIDS patients had anxiety disorders. The prevalence was higher in females (20.8%) than males (20.7%). The mean age of PLWHA with anxiety disorders was 46.58 ± 11.15 years in these included studies. The subgroup analyses showed significant higher prevalence in non-heterosexual (32.1%).

Conclusion: We attempted to quantify literature that could allow for stronger inferences to be made regarding the significantly higher prevalence of anxiety disorders in PLWHA, a finding that suggests the imperativeness of intervention strategies to alleviate suffering and reduce the probable negative ramifications.

Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42023442219, identifier CRD42023442219.

Keywords: acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS); anxiety disorders; human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); meta-analysis; people living with HIV/AIDS; systematic review.

Publication types

Systematic Review

Grants and funding

The authors declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82072271 to TZ, 82241072 to TZ, 82072294 to ZL), the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (7222091 to YZ), the High-level Public Health Technical Personnel Construction Project (2020-1-007 to TZ), and the Beijing Key Laboratory for HIV/AIDS Research (BZ0089 to TZ), the High-level Public Health Specialized Talents Project of Beijing Municipal Health commission(2022-02-20 to ZL), the Peak Talent Program of Beijing Hospital Authority (DFL20191701 to TZ), the Capital’s Funds for Health Improvement and Research (2022-1-1151 to TZ), the Research and Translational Application of Clinical Characteristic Diagnostic and Treatment Techniques in Capital City (Z221100007422055 to TZ), the Beijing Hospitals Authority Innovation Studio of Young Staff Funding Support (2021037 to YZ).