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Social network, social support and the rate of decline of CD4 lymphocytes in asymptomatic HIV-positive homosexual men.

Persson, Leif LU ; Östergren, Per-Olof LU ; Hanson, Bertil S ; Lindgren, Anna LU and Nauclér, Anders LU (2002) In Scandinavian Journal of Public Health 30(3). p.184-190
Abstract
AIMS: To test a stress-disease hypothesis by investigating the influence of social network and social support factors on the course over time of the CD4 lymphocytes in an HIV-positive population of gay men. METHODS: The study is a prospective cohort study of a representative population of HIV-positive gay men, undertaken at the Department of Infectious Diseases, Malmö University Hospital. This is the only clinic providing care for HIV-positive individuals in the city of Malmö in southern Sweden (population 248,000). A total of 115 HIV-positive homosexual men, who had not received an AIDS diagnosis, were invited to take part in the study. Seventy-five men (65%) accepted to be interviewed and 64 men (56%) fulfilled the inclusion criteria for... (More)
AIMS: To test a stress-disease hypothesis by investigating the influence of social network and social support factors on the course over time of the CD4 lymphocytes in an HIV-positive population of gay men. METHODS: The study is a prospective cohort study of a representative population of HIV-positive gay men, undertaken at the Department of Infectious Diseases, Malmö University Hospital. This is the only clinic providing care for HIV-positive individuals in the city of Malmö in southern Sweden (population 248,000). A total of 115 HIV-positive homosexual men, who had not received an AIDS diagnosis, were invited to take part in the study. Seventy-five men (65%) accepted to be interviewed and 64 men (56%) fulfilled the inclusion criteria for the statistical analysis. RESULTS: In a multivariate analysis adjustments were made for age, level of the first CD4 count and time since first contact with the clinic. Men with high family contact frequency had a longer half-life (20.3 years) of the CD4 lymphocyte count than men with a low family contact frequency (7.4 years) (p = 0.03). Men with high social participation also had a longer half-life of CD4 lymphocyte count (14.7 years), compared with men with low social participation (6.3 years, p = 0.10). CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study imply the importance of social support and social network factors as modifiers of the rate of decline of the CD4 lymphocyte level, which is an important prognostic marker of survival in HIV-positive homosexual men. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
SOCIAL EPIDEMIOLOGY, PSYCHONEUROIMMUNOLOGY, PUBLIC HEALTH, HIV-1, CD-4 LYMPHOCYTES, SOCIAL SUPPORT
in
Scandinavian Journal of Public Health
volume
30
issue
3
pages
184 - 190
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • wos:000177912300004
  • pmid:12227974
  • scopus:84993812324
ISSN
1651-1905
DOI
10.1080/14034940210133870
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ad322684-bb7f-49b5-9687-624d72923df9 (old id 110301)
alternative location
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/tandf/spub/2002/00000030/00000003/art00005
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 16:10:09
date last changed
2022-01-28 17:44:39
@article{ad322684-bb7f-49b5-9687-624d72923df9,
  abstract     = {{AIMS: To test a stress-disease hypothesis by investigating the influence of social network and social support factors on the course over time of the CD4 lymphocytes in an HIV-positive population of gay men. METHODS: The study is a prospective cohort study of a representative population of HIV-positive gay men, undertaken at the Department of Infectious Diseases, Malmö University Hospital. This is the only clinic providing care for HIV-positive individuals in the city of Malmö in southern Sweden (population 248,000). A total of 115 HIV-positive homosexual men, who had not received an AIDS diagnosis, were invited to take part in the study. Seventy-five men (65%) accepted to be interviewed and 64 men (56%) fulfilled the inclusion criteria for the statistical analysis. RESULTS: In a multivariate analysis adjustments were made for age, level of the first CD4 count and time since first contact with the clinic. Men with high family contact frequency had a longer half-life (20.3 years) of the CD4 lymphocyte count than men with a low family contact frequency (7.4 years) (p = 0.03). Men with high social participation also had a longer half-life of CD4 lymphocyte count (14.7 years), compared with men with low social participation (6.3 years, p = 0.10). CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study imply the importance of social support and social network factors as modifiers of the rate of decline of the CD4 lymphocyte level, which is an important prognostic marker of survival in HIV-positive homosexual men.}},
  author       = {{Persson, Leif and Östergren, Per-Olof and Hanson, Bertil S and Lindgren, Anna and Nauclér, Anders}},
  issn         = {{1651-1905}},
  keywords     = {{SOCIAL EPIDEMIOLOGY; PSYCHONEUROIMMUNOLOGY; PUBLIC HEALTH; HIV-1; CD-4 LYMPHOCYTES; SOCIAL SUPPORT}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{184--190}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Scandinavian Journal of Public Health}},
  title        = {{Social network, social support and the rate of decline of CD4 lymphocytes in asymptomatic HIV-positive homosexual men.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14034940210133870}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/14034940210133870}},
  volume       = {{30}},
  year         = {{2002}},
}