Associated factors of suicidal thoughts in HIV-positive individuals

Objective: as a first study,suicidal ideation and its correlates have been evaluated in iranian hiv positive population . methods: one hundred and fifty hiv-positive individuals were recruited in this cross-sectional study. the hospital anxiety and depression scale (hads),positive and negative suicide ideation (pansi),pittsburgh sleep quality inventory (psqi) and somatization subscale of symptom checklist 90 (scl 90) as self- reported questionnaires were used to assess the patients' anxiety and depression status,suicidal thoughts,sleep quality and physiological factors,respectively . results: antiretroviral therapy and efavirenz intake did not show any significant effects on the patients' suicidal ideation. anxiety (p<0.001),depression (p<0.001),poor physical activity (p<0.001) and sleep quality (p<0.001) were significantly associated with the patients' negative suicidal ideation. from the patients' demographic data,unemployment (p = 0.04),living alone (p = 0.01),and lack of family support (p = 0.01) were correlated with the patients' negative suicidal thoughts . conclusion: although hospitals are the main referral centers for providing care for hiv-positive individuals in tehran,iran,conducting a multi-center study with sufficient sample size from different areas of our country that include individuals with different behaviors and cultures is essential to confirm the results of this study.