Favorable effect of Karate Kata on self-esteem, anxiety and fatigue in people living with HIV

In the general population, and among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLHIV), sport activity is associated with better health, physically and psychologically. HIV is associated with low self-esteem. We hypothesized that Karate Kata practice could improve self-esteem in PLHIV. We conducted an interventional study with PLHIV in long-term care in our hospital. The main objective was to assess the effect of Karate Kata practice on self-esteem. The secondary objectives were to assess the effect of karate Kata on mood states, sleep, pain, balance and cognitive functions. The program consisted in group lessons of Karate Kata, 75 minutes, once a week, for 20 weeks. We compared the following points after <i>versus</i> before the Karate Kata program: self-esteem (Rosenberg scale), mood states (Profile of Mood States scale including anxiety, anger, confusion-perplexity, depression-discouragement, fatigue, vigor-activity and interpersonal relations), sleep (Pittsburg scale), pain (visual analog pain scale), balance (unipedal stance test) and cognitive functions (Dubois test). The 17 participants were 8 men and 9 women. The mean age was 53 years old. The self-esteem test (Rosenberg scale) was significantly improved after <i>versus</i> before Karate lessons: 31.9 <i>versus</i> 29.1 (<i>p</i> = 0.012). Likewise, anxiety, anger, fatigue and confusion-perplexity were lower after <i>versus</i> before Karate Kata lessons (respectively 8.1 <i>versus</i> 13.2, <i>p</i> = 0.024; 9.4 <i>versus</i> 15.8, <i>p</i> = 0.011; 6 <i>versus</i> 8.8, <i>p</i> = 0.035; 5.6 <i>versus</i> 8.3, <i>p</i> = 0.005). THUS, our study found that, for PLHIV, Karate Kata lessons had favorable effects on self-esteem, anxiety, anger, fatigue and confusion-perplexity. To conclude, as with physical activity in general, Karate Kata should be encouraged for PLHIV.ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT04560153.