Urban and Rural Differences: Unmet Needs for Symptom Management in People Living With HIV in China

Access to HIV care has increased in China, but regional disparities for the unmet symptom management needs of people living with HIV remain. Little attention has been paid to these disparities, especially in rural areas. We describe unmet symptom management needs in 1,214 people living with HIV from five HIV hospitals in the eastern coast, middle, and southern regions of China. Insomnia, abnormal dreams, and fatigue were the most common unmet needs of patients in urban China, whereas cognitive problems and blurry vision were the mostcommonin rural China. Self-management capacity, discrimination, and symptom severity predicted more unmet symptom management needs for patients in urban areas. Medication adherence, basic function, and symptom severity predicted more unmet needs among patients in rural areas. Our results have implications for nurses in HIV care and HIV policymakers. Separate interventions targeting the urban and rural areas must be implemented to meet patient symptom management needs.