Health related quality of life and its association with social support among people living with HIV/AIDS receiving antiretroviral therapy in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are frequently confronted with severe social issues such as rejection, abandonment, criticism, and stigma. This would negatively affect their quality of life. Several studies have been conducted so far to assess factors affecting the health-related quality of life among people living with HIV/AIDS who are on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Ethiopia. However, to our knowledge, there is no previous study that has summarized the results of the studies that investigated health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among PLWHA in Ethiopia. Therefore, the purpose of this review was to estimate the pooled prevalence of HRQOL and its association with social support among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) on ART in Ethiopia. METHODS: A systematic search was carried out using several electronic databases (PubMed, Science Direct, Web of Science, and Cochrane electronic), Google Scholar, Google, and a manual search of the literature on health-related quality of life among people living with HIV/AIDS who are on ART. A Microsoft Excel data extraction sheet was used to extract pertinent data from an individual study. To assess the heterogeneity of primary articles, the Cochrane Q test statistics and the I2 test were carried out, and a random effects meta-analysis was used to estimate the pooled prevalence of HRQOL. RESULT: Out of the 493 articles reviewed, ten with a total of 3257 study participants were eligible for meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of HRQOL among people living with HIV/AIDS who are on antiretroviral therapy in Ethiopia was 45.27%. We found that strong perceived social support was significantly associated with higher levels of subjectively perceived HRQOL. PLWHA who were on ART and had good social support were four times more likely to report higher HRQOL when compared to their counterparts [AOR = 4.01, 95% CI 3.07–5.23]. CONCLUSION: A substantial number of PLWHA had poor HRQOL in Ethiopia. Social support was significantly associated with HRQOL among people living with HIV/AIDS. Hence, it’s recommended to encourage suitable intervention at every follow-up visit, and psycho-social support is also warranted to improve the quality of life.