Abstract
Abstract: This exploratory study examined the relationships of psychological variables and HIV disease progression in a sample of gay men (n=147) infected for at least 8 years and followed up clinically for 5 to 32 months. Psychological variables included personality, coping strategies, psychological morbidity, perceived social support and life events. Biological and medical variables included handedness, viral load, CD4 count and use of antiretroviral medication. Cox’s proportional hazard regressions to the two dependent variables of time to CD4 count below 200 x106L and time to ARC or AIDS diagnosis showed that biomedical variables were predominant in predicting disease progression but acceptance coping was a significant predictor of longer ARC or AIDS-free survival.