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Catherine Anne Esposito, MPH, Zachary Steel, PhD, Tran Minh Gioi, MD, MPH, Tran Trieu Ngoa Huyen, MD and Daniel Tarantola, MD

At the time of the study Catherine Anne Esposito was a PhD candidate at the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Daniel Tarantola was with the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney. Zachary Steel was with the Center for Population Mental Health Research, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney. Tran Minh Gioi is with the Center for Community Health Promotion, Hanoi, Vietnam. Tran Trieu Ngoa Huyen is with the Quality of Life Promotion Center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Correspondence: Correspondence should be sent to Dr Zachary Steel, Center for Population Mental Health Research, level 4, Health Services Building, Liverpool Hospital NSW 2170, Australia (e-mail: z.steel{at}unsw.edu.au; esposito.catherine{at}gmail.com). Reprints can be ordered at http://www.ajph.org by clicking on the "Reprints/Eprints" link.

Objectives. We assessed the prevalence of depression among men living with HIV infection in Vietnam and compared the findings with those from a general population survey of Vietnamese men.

Methods. Between November 2007 and April 2008, 584 participants completed a structured questionnaire in Vietnamese that measured self-reported depression. We used the ² test to detect differences in prevalence rates within HIV populations and between our respondents and a general Vietnamese male population.

Results. Respondents had a depression rate of 18.7% over a 1-month period, which was substantially higher than that reported in the Vietnamese male population (0.9%). Rates were highest among men reporting higher levels of stress and more HIV symptoms. Men diagnosed with depression experienced significantly more difficulty than others in accessing medical care.

Conclusions. Our results provide the first empirical evidence of depression among men living with HIV in Vietnam and underscore the need to include mental health services in the response to HIV.