HIV Symptom Clusters Among Sexual Minority Men in Ghana, West Africa: A Cross-sectional Study

Samuel Akyirem; Guangyu Tong; Gloria Aidoo-Frimpong; Diana Namumbejja Abwoye; Daniel Jacobson López; Leo Wilton; LaRon E Nelson

doi:10.1097/JNC.0000000000000497

HIV Symptom Clusters Among Sexual Minority Men in Ghana, West Africa: A Cross-sectional Study

J Assoc Nurses AIDS Care. 2024 Aug 29. doi: 10.1097/JNC.0000000000000497. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Samuel Akyirem^{1

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7}, Guangyu Tong^{1

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7}, Gloria Aidoo-Frimpong^{1

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7}, Diana Namumbejja Abwoye^{1

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3

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7}, Daniel Jacobson López^{1

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3

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7}, Leo Wilton^{1

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3

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7}, LaRon E Nelson^{1

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7}

Affiliations

¹ Samuel Akyirem, MRes, is a PhD Candidate, Yale School of Nursing, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
² Guangyu Tong, PhD, is an Assistant Professor, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
³ Gloria Aidoo-Frimpong, PhD, is an Assistant Professor, School of Public Health and Health Professions, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA.
⁴ Diana Namumbejja Abwoye, MSN, is a PhD Student, Yale School of Nursing, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
⁵ Daniel Jacobson López, PhD, is an Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
⁶ Leo Wilton, PhD, is a Professor, Department of Human Development, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, New York, USA, and Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁷ LaRon E. Nelson, PhD, is a Professor, Yale School of Nursing, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA, and Yale School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.

PMID: 39208416
DOI: 10.1097/JNC.0000000000000497

Abstract

The aims of this study were to determine if HIV symptoms among sexual minority men formed clusters and to examine the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics that are associated with these clusters. We analyzed cross-sectional data from Ghanaian sexual minority men (N = 225) living with HIV. We used both principal component analysis and multivariable linear regression. Our findings indicate that sadness (64.0%) and headache (62.7%) were the most prevalent symptoms among our sample. Seven symptom clusters were identified: neurological symptoms, psychological symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms, dermatological symptoms, self-concept/self-esteem, weight/diet-related symptoms, and sleepquality and potential disturbances. Late HIV diagnosis was significantly associated with higher distress scores for all symptom clusters except for the self-concept/self-esteem and gastrointestinal symptoms clusters. The findings emphasize the importance of early HIV symptom identification.