Cover: The Prospective Effect of Access to Medical Care on Health-Related Quality-of-Life Outcomes in Patients with Symptomatic HIV Disease

The Prospective Effect of Access to Medical Care on Health-Related Quality-of-Life Outcomes in Patients with Symptomatic HIV Disease

Published in: Medical Care, v. 36, no. 3, Mar. 1998, p. 295-306

Posted on RAND.org on January 01, 1998

by William Cunningham, Ron D. Hays, Margot K. Ettl, Wilfrid Joseph Dixon, Rebecca Ching-Chi Liu, C. Keith Beck, Martin F. Shapiro

This study examined the prospective effect of reported access to medical care on health-related quality-of-life outcomes in patients with symptomatic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease. It concluded that access to care at baseline predicted better physical and mental health outcomes at three months for those in the middle tertile of physical health and for those in the bottom and middle tertiles of mental health at baseline. Increasing access to care for poor public hospital patients with HIV infection may help to improve health-related quality-of-life outcomes among selected persons with advanced disease.

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