Confirmation of the Factor Structure of the Proqol-HIV Questionnaire to Assess Health-Related Quality of Life in PLWHA.

The international PROQOL-HIV questionnaire [1,2] has been developed to overcome current limitations of existing measurement instruments specific of HIV disease where assessment of HAART impact on quality of life (HRQL) is generally lacking. It is composed of 43 items describing 8 facets: Body concerns (BC), Emotional distress (ED), Health concerns (HC), Intimate relationships (IR), Physical health and symptoms (PHS), Social relationships (SR), Stigma (ST), Treatment impact (TI). General health state and additional items (maternity/paternity, finance, religious beliefs, satisfaction with health care) are provided but are not part of the scoring scheme. Although a detailed scoring is appropriate in routine clinical practice or to study specific questions in clinical trials, a parcimonious factor structure might facilitate the analysis of HRQL data in logitudinal follow-up or epidemiological studies. Objectives