Fewer than four in ten women on HIV therapy in Ambo town report good quality of life

A cross-sectional study of 420 women receiving antiretroviral therapy at health facilities in Ambo town, Ethiopia, found that only 39.3 percent had good health-related quality of life. The research, conducted in 2021 and published as a brief communication in AIDS Research and Therapy, examined which factors were associated with how these women rated their overall wellbeing while on treatment.

The study used an institution-based cross-sectional design, meaning participants were surveyed at a single point in time at the facilities where they received care. This type of study can identify associations between characteristics and outcomes, but it cannot establish cause and effect, and it captures quality of life only at the moment of assessment rather than tracking changes over time.

Two factors emerged as positively associated with good quality of life. Women who were not depressed had more than twice the odds of reporting good quality of life compared with those who were depressed, with an adjusted odds ratio of 2.27 and a 95 percent confidence interval of 1.10 to 4.79. Because the confidence interval sits close to the lower boundary of one, the precision of this estimate is limited, though the association reached conventional statistical significance.

Social support showed a similar pattern. Women with better social support had adjusted odds of 2.32 of good quality of life, with a 95 percent confidence interval of 1.34 to 4.00. This suggests that the women who reported stronger networks of support in their daily lives were more likely to describe their health-related quality of life as good, independent of the other factors measured in the analysis.

The authors concluded that the small proportion of women with good quality of life points to a need for interventions to prevent depression and to improve social support among women on antiretroviral therapy. Because the study was cross-sectional, the direction of these relationships cannot be confirmed; it is possible that poorer quality of life contributes to depressive symptoms as well as the reverse, and the analysis adjusted for measured factors only.

The study’s scope is also geographically limited. It included women attending health facilities in a single Ethiopian town in 2021, so the findings may not generalize to men on treatment, to women in other regions, or to settings with different health system arrangements. The brief communication format also means the report is concise, and readers should consult the full publication for details on measurement instruments, sampling and the complete list of variables examined.

For programmes caring for women on HIV treatment, the study highlights two potentially actionable areas: routine attention to depressive symptoms and deliberate strengthening of social support, both of which were associated with better self-reported quality of life in this population.

Subject of Research: Health-related quality of life and associated factors among women on antiretroviral therapy in Ambo town, Ethiopia

Article Title: Health related quality of life and associated factors among women on antiretroviral therapy in health facilities of Ambo town, Ethiopia, 2021: a brief communication

Article References: Gidisa, T., Darega, J., & Biadiglgn, M. T. (2026). Health related quality of life and associated factors among women on antiretroviral therapy in health facilities of Ambo town, Ethiopia, 2021: a brief communication. AIDS Research and Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12981-026-00962-6

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12981-026-00962-6

Keywords: HIV, antiretroviral therapy, quality of life, Ethiopia, depression, social support, women's health, cross-sectional study, public health, Health, related, quality