Serotonin Levels in NewlyInfected HIV-Positive: A Preliminary Study

Background: HIV is still a global health concern worldwide and in 2021, a total of 27,000 newly infected cases were detected in the Indonesian population, specifically among adults. However, there is no available data found about serotonin levels in newly infected cases of HIV. Objective: This study aimed to preliminary investigate serotonin levels in newly-infected HIV-positive cases in the Indonesian population. Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional analytic design was used with a total of 54 newly-infected HIV-positive participants who were enrolled using the purposive sampling technique. The questionnaire, blood sampling, and ELISA methods for measuring serotonin were applied. Furthermore, the serotonin distribution was compared based on participants’ characteristics using the Mann-Whitney U test. The main effect of characteristics was also tested by the generalized linear model. Results: The mean serotonin level was low and did not differ based on participants’ characteristics. Conclusion: Low serotonin level is characteristic of people newly infected with HIV in Indonesia. This might be a manifestation of the depression stage, a consequence of infection, or the involvement in provoking HIV infection progression.