Level of Chaos Impacts HIV Medical Care

Unstable and unpredictable lifestyles may be significant factors in whether patients with HIV get regular medical care, a Los Angeles study found.

Chaotic lives — lives disorganized or with too many unexpected events — can act as a barrier to regular medical care, Dr. Mitchell Wong of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles said.

The study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, found HIV patients who did not have spouses or partners and with at least one unmet social-service need, such as transportation or housing, scored highest on the chaos scale. Patients with more chaos in their lives were less likely to have had two or more outpatient HIV care visits.

To help assess life chaos, the researchers asked the 220 low-income HIV-positive patients to provide a five-point response ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree to the statements:

— My life is organized.

— My life is unstable.

— My routine is the same from week to week.

— My daily activities from week to week are unpredictable.

— Keeping a schedule is difficult for me.

— I do not like to make appointments too far in advance because I do not know what might come up.