Informal caregiving within a HAART era advanced HIV cohort

The current study aimed to identify the primary informal caregivers of a group of urban, racially diverse adults with advanced HIV, and to determine relationships between demographic, medical, and substance use characteristics and types of caregivers identified. Two hundred and fifty participants in the study identified a primary informal caregiver and described their relationship to this person. Reported caregiver types included 36.8% familial, 22.4% significant other, and 22.8% institutional or other caregiver relationships. Eighteen percent of the sample reported having no individual that rendered informal care. Factors associated with the absence of an informal caregiver included African American race and low education. Hispanic, but not African American, participants reported the highest frequency of family caregivers while participants with a history of substance disorder were less likely to identify a significant other as a caregiver. Lower CD4 count was uniquely predicted by older age, African American race, and membership in the No Caregiver category. This study demonstrates the evolving nature of informal caregiving in HIV, race- and education-related disparities in the absence of primary caregivers, and the importance of sociocultural, demographic, and biologic factors in the study of caregiving among HIV+ urban minorities