Impact of depression on quality of life in people living with human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) in Salvador, Brazil

A previous study found the prevalence of depression in HTLV-1-infected patients to be approximately 30%, but few studies have
attempted to correlate depression with quality of life (QOL) in these patients. The present study investigates the association
between depression and QOL in people living with HTLV-1.

A clinical-epidemiological questionnaire, the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview and the WHOQOL-Bref were applied
to 88 HTLV-1-infected patients (32 with TSP/HAM) at the HTLV Center of the Bahiana School of Medicine and Public Health, Salvador,
Brazil.

The prevalence of depression among people living with HTLV-1 was 34.1%. Depression was significantly associated with a poor
QOL in the physical, psychological, social relationship and environment domains, when controlling for other variables, such
as gender, age, time of knowledge of serological diagnosis and presence of tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-1associated myelopathy
(TSP/HAM). Moreover, patients with TSP/HAM experienced a reduction in their QOL in the physical, psychological and environment
domains.

Our results showed that depression negatively affects the quality of life of people living with HTLV-1, regardless of the
presence of TSP/HAM. Since it is possible to improve a patient’s QOL by treating depression, psychological evaluations are
strongly recommended as a measure to integrate the treatment protocols of HTLV-1 intervention programs.