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REVIEW article

Front. Psychiatry

Sec. Public Mental Health

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1557816

This article is part of the Research Topic Exploration in Innovative Approaches to Understanding and Treating Mood Disorders: Evaluating Efficacy, Mechanisms, and Therapeutic Targets View all articles

Pathogenesis of HIV-associated depression: contributing factors and underlying mechanisms

Provisionally accepted
  • Chongqing Public Health Medical Center, Chongqing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Cumulative evidence indicates that compared to HIV negative individuals, people living with HIV (PLWH) have a higher likelihood of developing depression, anxiety, and cognitive disorders. Depression, which is known to be a persistent and overwhelming feeling of sadness accompanied by a loss of interest in usual activities, is one of the most common mental illnesses encountered during HIV infection. Experts believe that several factors such as neuroinflammation, life stressors, lack of sleep, poor nutritional state, opportunistic infections and comorbidities, and HIV medications are contributing factors favoring the development of depression in PLWH. However, the fundamental mechanisms which underlie the involvement of these factors in the emergence of depression in the context of HIV remain poorly explored. Past researches describing the role of one or two of the preceding factors do exist; however, very few articles tackle this important topic while considering the several different putative causative factors comprehensively in the particular context of HIV infection. Herein, we elaborate on the factors currently understood to be responsible for the development of depression, and discuss the particular fundamental mechanisms whereby each factor may result in the outcome of depression. We believe that the understanding of these factors and of their underlying mechanisms is essential for the development of future therapeutic interventions to alleviate the burden of depression commonly seen in PLWH, and therefore facilitate the development of strategies to improve their overall quality of life.

    Keywords: HIV, Depression, factors, Pathogenesis, mechanisms

    Received: 10 Jan 2025; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Zaongo, Wu and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yaokai Chen, Chongqing Public Health Medical Center, Chongqing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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