Validation of a Specific Questionnaire on Psychological and Social Repercussions of the Lipodystrophy Syndrome in HIV-infected Patients

Objective: To validate a questionnaire to identify psychosocial repercussions of the lipodystrophy syndrome (LD) in HIV-infected patients. Methods: A questionnaire containing 35 items in 6 subscales body image, anxiety, depression, social support, social distress, quality of life (QoL)] was consecutively administered to 128 patients with LD, 25 naïve patients or on therapy without LD, and to 15 HIV negative patients from January to July ’04. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The area under the curve (AUC) was used for discrimination between patients and control groups, and the scores were compared according to the severity of the LD. Results: In all the subscales, the relationship between higher scores and LD severity was statistically significant (0.37–0.64, p<0.01), whereas the control groups had significantly lower scores. The internal consistency showed Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranging from 0.64 to 0.93. Test–retest reliability after 15 days in 30 patients showed ICC values of 0.8–0.94. AUC values for the different subscales were higher than 0.7 with the exception of QoL score, and construct validity showed a significant correlation with the Beck Depression Inventory and the MOS-HIV scores (0.49 and 0.51, respectively, p<0.01). Conclusions: Our questionnaire shows satisfactory psychometric properties for identifying psychosocial repercussions of the LD in HIV-infected patients.