Psychosocial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic from a cross-sectional Survey of people living with HIV in Washington, DC

Background COVID-19 has not only taken a staggering toll in terms of cases and lives lost, but also in its psychosocial effects.

We assessed the psychosocial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in a large cohort of people with HIV (PWH) in Washington DC and evaluated the association of various demographic and clinical characteristics with psychosocial impacts.

Methods From October 2020 to December 2021, DC Cohort participants were invited to complete a survey capturing psychosocial outcomes influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some demographic variables were also collected in the survey, and survey results were matched to additional demographic data and laboratory data from the DC Cohort database.

Data analyses included descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression models to evaluate the association between demographic and clinical characteristics and psychosocial impacts, assessed individually and in overarching categories (financial/employment, mental health, decreased social connection, and substance use).

Results Of 891 participants, the median age was 46 years old, 65% were male, and 76% were of non-Hispanic Black race/ethnicity.

The most commonly reported psychosocial impact categories were mental health (78% of sample) and financial/employment (56% of sample).

In our sample, older age was protective against all adverse psychosocial impacts.

Additionally, those who were more educated reported fewer financial impacts but more mental health impacts, decreased social connection, and increased substance use.

Males reported increased substance use compared with females.

Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic has had substantial psychosocial impacts on PWH, and resiliency may have helped shield older adults from some of these effects.

As the pandemic continues, measures to aid groups vulnerable to these psychosocial impacts are critical to help ensure continued success towards healthy living with HIV.