Objective: Both alcoholism and HIV infection reduce health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and their co-occurrence is highly prevalent. We sought to determine whether comorbidity for both disorders further reduced HRQOL and what factors exacerbated or mitigated their effect. Method: HRQOL, CD4 T-cell counts, lifetime alcohol consumption and length of sobriety, depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory [BDI]-II), general cognitive status (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test II), and other psychiatric comorbidities were assessed in patients with alcohol dependence or abuse (n = 44), HIV ...

<1 year), however, had higher HRQOL than either those in sustained full or partial remission (>

<.0001 
Alcohol groups only 
  Length sober, months                    NS 
  Years met criteria for 
    alcohol dependence                    NS 
HIV groups only 
  T cells, count/[mm.sup.3]               NS 
  Log viral load                          NS 
  Years infected with HIV                 NS 
 
                                              Between 
                                              patient 
                                             comparison 
                                            (one-tailed) 
 
                                     A+H                   A+H 
Continuous descriptors               vs H                  vs A 
 
All four groups 
  Age                                  NS                   NS 
  Socioeconomic status (a)             *                    NS 
  Body mass index                      NS                   NS 
  Years of education                   NS                   NS 
  PPVT-III scaled score                *                    NS 
  PPVT-III raw score                   NS                   NS 
  DST scaled score                     *                    NS 
  DST raw score                ([double dagger])            * 
  HRQOL                                *            ([double dagger]) 
  GAF                          ([double dagger])            NS 
  Karnovsky score                      NS           ([double dagger]) 
  Beck Depression Inventory            NS                   NS 
  Lifetime alcohol, kg         ([double dagger])            NS 
Alcohol groups only 
  Length sober, months                 --                   NS 
  Years met criteria for 
    alcohol dependence                 --                   NS 
HIV groups only 
  T cells, count/[mm.sup.3]            NS                   -- 
  Log viral load                       NS                   -- 
  Years infected with HIV              NS                   -- 
 
                               Between patient 
                                 comparison 
                                (one-tailed) 
 
                                      A              Patient vs 
Continuous descriptors               vs H             controls 
 
All four groups 
  Age                                  NS             A+H>