Mental Health Diagnoses and HIV: Data from a Population-Based Sample, Virginia, 2008-2009

Background: Previous studies have established that serious mental illness is more prevalent among people living with HIV (PLWH) than within the general population. Serious mental illness is known to complicate adherence to HIV drug treatment and contribute to virologic failure. This analysis examines prevalence of mental health diagnosis within a statewide, population-based sample of those in care for HIV.

Methods: We used medical record abstraction data from the Virginia Medical Monitoring Project (MMP) to determine the prevalence of specific mental health diagnoses among a sample of patients in care for HIV in 2008 and 2009. To augment MMP data, additional demographic variables were pulled from the state HIV surveillance database. Mantel-Haenszel Chi square tests of independence were used to examine statistical associations.

Results: Of the 666 sampled patients, 29% had one or more mental health diagnoses documented in the medical record, and 5% of patients had more than one mental health diagnosis. The most commonly documented mental illness was depression (26%), followed by generalized anxiety disorder (5%). Prevalence rates for depression did not vary significantly by age or gender. However, the rate of diagnosis did vary significantly by racial/ethnic group (p=0.0002), with Hispanic patients having the highest prevalence of depression (40%).

Conclusions: Twenty-nine percent of HIV-infected patients had a documented mental health diagnosis. Further investigation is needed to determine the factors contributing to the higher prevalence of depression among Hispanics. MMP provides an important statewide source of information about mental health diagnosis among HIV-infected persons receiving medical care.