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Incidence and Persistence of Depression Among Women Living with and Without HIV in South Africa: A Longitudinal Study

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Abstract

Depression and trauma are common among women living with HIV. This is the first study to track the longitudinal course of depression and examine the relationship between depression and trauma over time among women in South Africa. HIV-infected and uninfected women (N = 148) were assessed at baseline and one year later. Results of a path analysis show the multi-directional and entwined influence of early life stress, other life-threatening traumas across the lifespan, depression and PTSD over the course of HIV. We also observed higher rates of depressive symptomatology and more persistent cases among infected women compared to uninfected women, as well as a more consistent and enduring relationship between childhood trauma and depression among women living with HIV. The present study is unique in documenting the course of untreated depression and PTSD in women with and without HIV infection with a high prevalence of early childhood trauma.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the South African Research Chair in PTSD awarded to S Seedat and hosted by Stellenbosch University, funded by the DST and administered by NRF and the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University (Deputy Dean’s strategic fund for postdoctoral fellows and sub-committee C postdoctoral fellowship). Additional research support was provided by a CFAR grant awarded to S Seedat [P30-AI036214] Professor Martin Kidd from the department of Statistics and Actuarial Sciences of Stellenbosch University provided statistical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI), PTSD Program, Department of Psychiatry, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa

    Georgina Spies & Soraya Seedat

  2. Faculdade de Ciências Médicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados, Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

    Elisabete Castelon Konkiewitz

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  1. Georgina Spies
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  2. Elisabete Castelon Konkiewitz
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Correspondence to Georgina Spies.

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All procedures involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards for the institutional review board and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Health Research Ethics Committee (HREC) of Stellenbosch University, South Africa (HREC #: N07/07/153).

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Spies, G., Konkiewitz, E.C. & Seedat, S. Incidence and Persistence of Depression Among Women Living with and Without HIV in South Africa: A Longitudinal Study. AIDS Behav 22, 3155–3165 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-018-2072-y

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