The identification of subgroups of people living with HIV in China based on the severity of symptom clusters and individual symptoms is crucial to determine group-specific symptom management strategies. Participants reported 27 highly prevalent HIV/AIDS-related symptoms. Latent profile analysis based on symptom severity was used to identify person-centered subtypes of HIV/AIDS-related symptoms. Symptom networks were compared among subgroups identified by latent profile analysis. A total of 2927 eligible people living with HIV (PWH) were included in the analysis. Five profiles were identified: “Profile 1: all low symptom severity” (n(2) = 2094, 71.54%), “Profile 2: medium symptom severity with syndemic conditions” (n(3) = 109, 3.72%), “Profile 3: medium symptom severity with low functional status” (n(1) = 165, 5.64%), “Profile 4: medium symptom severity in transitional period” (n(4) = 448, 15.31%), and “Profile 5: all high symptom severity” (n(5) = 111, 3.79%). Except for Profile 1 and Profile 5, the symptom severity was similar among the other three profiles. Profiles 1 (2.09 +/- 0.52) and 4 (2.44 +/- 0.66) had the smallest n-ary sumation s values, and Profiles 2 (4.38 +/- 1.40) and 5 (4.39 +/- 1.22) had the largest n-ary sumation s values. Our study demonstrates the need for health care professionals to provide PWH with group-specific symptom management interventions based on five profiles to improve their physical and psychological well-being. Future studies should be conducted in different contexts using different symptom checklists to further validate our results.
Identifying subtypes of HIV/AIDS-related symptoms in China using latent profile analysis and symptom networks
Scientific Reports, 12 (1), 13271. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-17720-z. PMCID: PMC9345945.