Analytical treatment interruptions (ATIs) are commonly used in HIV cure–related research to assess intervention efficacy, but there is limited empirical information about how ATIs affect participants' health-related quality of life (HRQOL). The study summarized here evaluated how HRQOL changed over time among people with HIV (PWH) enrolled in HIV cure–related studies requiring ATIs, and examined whether baseline depressive symptoms, trait-based anxiety, or resilience influenced those trajectories.
The analysis combined data from two HIV cure–related studies that included ATIs: the UCSF SCOPE-ATI Study and the UCSF-amfAR Combination Trial. Seventeen PWH contributed data to this pooled analysis. The publication is indexed with PMID 42559869 and DOI 10.1080/25787489.2026.2715800.
Seventeen participants with HIV were assessed at multiple time points: baseline, pre-ATI, at medication restart, and at study completion. HRQOL was measured at each of these visits. The source reports the timing of assessments (baseline, pre-ATI, medication restart, study completion) but does not report additional participant-level demographic detail in the abstract.
At baseline, participants completed validated instruments to assess three psychosocial constructs: depressive symptoms, trait-based anxiety, and resilience. The specific named instruments are not reported in the abstract; the source states only that validated scales were used. These baseline measures were included both as main effects and, for resilience, as a potential moderator of HRQOL change over time.
The authors used both frequentist and Bayesian linear mixed-effects models to evaluate: (1) change in HRQOL across study time points, (2) associations between baseline psychosocial factors and HRQOL, and (3) whether resilience moderated HRQOL trajectories. Mixed-effects models are appropriate for repeated-measures data and allow estimation of within-subject change while accounting for between-subject variability. The abstract reports frequentist parameter estimates and p-values for main findings; Bayesian model summaries are referenced but specific Bayesian estimates are not detailed in the abstract.
Overall change in HRQOL: In the frequentist mixed-effects models, HRQOL increased significantly over time (β = 0.63, p = .016), indicating an overall improvement in HRQOL across the assessment points despite ATI participation.
Baseline depressive symptoms: Higher baseline depressive symptoms were associated with lower HRQOL across time points (β = -1.00, p = .048), suggesting that participants with greater depressive symptoms started and/or remained at lower HRQOL levels.
Baseline anxiety: Higher baseline trait-based anxiety was negatively associated with HRQOL (β = -1.18, p = .001), indicating a stronger negative relationship than depressive symptoms in this sample.
Resilience as moderator: Resilience moderated HRQOL change over time; the time-by-resilience interaction was positive and statistically significant (time*resilience β = 0.36, p = .040). Participants with higher baseline resilience experienced steeper increases in HRQOL over the course of the study.
The abstract reports these frequentist parameter estimates and p-values. Details of Bayesian model outputs, model fit metrics, covariate adjustment, and effect size interpretations beyond the reported betas and p-values are not provided in the abstract.
In this sample of PWH participating in HIV cure–related studies with ATIs, HRQOL improved over time despite undergoing treatment interruptions. However, baseline psychosocial vulnerabilities—specifically depression and anxiety—were associated with lower HRQOL across study visits. By contrast, higher baseline resilience was associated with greater improvement in HRQOL over time. These findings support the need for attention to psychosocial health in the context of cure-related research: screening for and addressing depressive symptoms and anxiety, and supporting resilience-building interventions, may help optimize participant well-being and study experiences during ATIs.
The abstract provides key findings but lacks several details that would be relevant for interpretation and clinical translation. Specifically, the abstract does not report the exact validated instruments used to measure depressive symptoms, anxiety, or resilience; it does not provide participant demographic breakdowns beyond MeSH indexing (Adult, Female appears in MeSH), nor does it report effect sizes beyond the presented betas and p-values, confidence intervals, or sample attrition. Information on study-level differences between the two pooled trials, adjustment for potential confounders, and complete Bayesian model results are not reported in the abstract. These details may be available in the full article but were not included in the source abstract.
The available data indicate that HRQOL can improve over the course of participation in HIV cure–related studies that include ATIs, but baseline depression and anxiety are associated with lower HRQOL and resilience appears to promote stronger gains. The authors conclude that cure-related research protocols should attend to psychosocial factors to protect and enhance participant well-being during ATIs.