PURPOSE/RATIONALE: The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) and leg function contributed to quality of life in HIV-positive persons. CVI has a high occurrence in persons who have injected drugs which is also a causative factor for HIV. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional design with quota sampling was used. Participants (N = 73) were recruited from an infectious diseases clinic; 46 in one strata with a history of injection drug use and 27 in the other who did not. Instruments included the Demographic and Health History Questionnaire, Drug Use History Questionnaire, SF-36 for quality of life, and the Leg Function Scale (leg pain, leg interference, and leg difficulty). Correlations, t-tests, polynomial regression and structural equation modeling were used in statistical analyses. RESULTS: There were 36 men and 37 women; mean age 45.8 years. They were HIV-positive for 9.55 mean years. Quality of life scores were more than 1 SD lower than national norms on each subscale. None of the eight SF-36 scores were significantly related to CVI; but were inversely and significantly related to the number of co-morbid health problems. Leg Function was significantly correlated with SF-36; the worse the Leg Function score, the poorer the quality of life. Significant variables were found in the model which accounted for 42% of the variance in quality of life and 41%, in leg function. Leg function mediated the relations among quality of life, CVI-nonlinear, and co-morbidity. CONCLUSIONS: Quality of life is a complex aspect when examined with CVI. Leg function appears to be a critical factor. Some participants were receiving care for venous ulcers so this may have affected their quality of life. Additional research with a larger sample and controlling for wound care needs to be done.