Background Older adults living with HIV may be at increased risk of experiencing distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods We took advantage of a cohort study in older adults living with HIV in Canada (+BHN) to study the psychological impact of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A longitudinal study was conducted in which participants in the +BHN study who had access to the internet and agreed to be contacted were queried on symptoms of psychological distress and its predictors each week between mid-April and the end of June 2020. Evolution of distress, measured with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), was modelled using Group Based Trajectory Analysis and logistic regression was used to identify factors predictive of psychological distress in the clinical range. Results The 77 +BHN participants who took part in the current study were mostly men (92%) and on average 57.3 years of age. Over the study period, 32.5% experienced psychological distress in the clinical range at one or more weekly surveys. In the transition between the pre-COVID-19 and the COVID-19 periods, the HADS scores followed 5 distinct trajectories: (i) 39.5 % of the sample, with normal HADS scores in the several months preceding the pandemic, experienced an increase in HADS scores; (ii) 30.6% of the sample had normal pre-pandemic HADS scores, remained stable; and (iii) 29.9%, with pre-pandemic presence of distress, had a decrease in HADS scores. During the first wave of COVID-19, some attenuation in distress was seen over time. Feeling lonely and financial insecurity were associated with distress. Conclusion Presence of psychological distress during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic was not universal among older adults with HIV, with as many as one third of the participants reporting an improvement in mental health. Distress was predicted by loneliness and financial insecurity.
Factors influencing psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in people aging with HIV