Abstract

Carla Glenda Souza da Silva* and João Carlos Alchieri

This paper aims to evaluate the impact of lipodystrophic syndrome (LDS) on the quality of life and esthetic self-perception of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) under highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). This is an exploratory observational study, with quantitative and qualitative data, using world health organization quality of life instrument – HIV (WHOQOL-HIV BREF) and esthetic perception and evaluation of fat redistribution in patients with HIV/AIDS as instruments. The sample consisted of 48 PLWHA, aged between 32 and 66 years. 89.6% of PLWHA were interested in changing parts of their bodies perceived as altered or compromised by LDS, as reinforced by the fact that they "realize" (35.4%) and "feel" (35.4%) that they are differently perceived by other people. With respect to quality of life, spirituality, religion and personal beliefs obtained the highest mean (14.7) with SD = 4.0. This study suggests that HIV infection and the presence of LDS, based on the self-perception of the participants, may affect not only biomedical aspects, but psychosocial and spiritual ones as well, intervening in the quality of life of these individuals.