Hassan Hassan Murtala, Abdullahi Kamilu, Mahfouz Mohammed Haddad, Basiru Aleeyu Attahir, Saleh Ngaski Garba and Emmanuel Ejembi Anyebe 

Keywords: Relationship, Level of Anxiety, HIV/AIDs Patient, Prevalence

Abstract

The HIV/AIDs epidemic remains a significant global health challenge with a large majority being in low- and middle-income nations thus poses various degree of anxiety to the patients. The study was conducted to assess the prevalence, level of anxiety and relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and level of anxiety among HIV/AIDs patients attending HIV clinic in Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital, Kano. Cross-sectional descriptive design was used. A total of 73 patients were recruited for the study using systematic random sampling technique. A structured interviewer administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Data collected were organized and analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 and results were presented using frequency distribution tables and percentages, pie chart, bar chart and chi-square at <0.005 level of significant. The prevalence of anxiety was 57.5%. Mild anxiety was recorded to be 54.8% where as 35.7% had moderate anxiety with 9.5% recorded severe anxiety. Statistically significant association was found between level of anxiety and age (χ2=103.304, p=<0.0001), gender

(χ2=51.937, p=<0.0001), marital status (χ2=89.803, p=<0.0001), religion (χ2=65.186, p=<0.0001), ethnicity (χ2=69.002, p=<0.0001), educational status (χ2=84.265, p=<0.0001), occupation (χ2=129.501, p=<0.0001) and monthly income (χ2=79.123, p=<0.0001). Health workers should ensure disseminating adequate and accurate information to the patients in order to assist them in coping with anxiety related to the HIV/AIDs.