Uganda: HIV-Related Memory Loss is Now Common, Says Study
By, Kakaire A. Kirunda, The Monitor (Kampala), February 4, 2007
According to a study published in the January 30th issue of the journal Neurology, HIV-related neurological problems are common in Uganda and Africa in general.
"HIV dementia is common in HIV-sero positive Ugandan individuals attending an Aids clinic.
It is more frequently associated with patients of advanced age and decreased CD4 count," concluded the study. It was aimed at measuring the frequency and associated risk factors of HIV dementia in an HIV clinic where 24 of 78 (31 per cent) randomly sampled patients had HIV dementia.
Dementia is a medical term, which in lay-language refers to loss of one's memory; continuous loss of one's brainpower.
The study looked at 178 subjects from September 2003 to January 2004. Seventy-eight were HIV-positive patients recruited from the Infectious Disease Clinic in Mulago Hospital, Makerere University, while 100 were HIV-negative individuals recruited from the Aids Information Centre who were used to obtain normative data for the cognitive tests.
According to a January 29 release from the Johns Hopkins University in the United States of America, whose researchers in collaboration with Ugandan counterparts carried out the study, HIV dementia is defined as memory, learning, behavioural and motor disabilities that interfere with normal daily life and in extreme cases lead to total disability and a bedridden state.
HIV dementia is treatable and potentially reversible with the same antiretroviral medication that is used to treat the infection. Treatment can even restore completely normal cognitive function to some of those affected. The Mulago study none-the-less, found that each additional 10 years of age conferred a greater than two-fold risk of HIV dementia and reduced levels of CD4 count, which was associated with a 60 percent increase in the odds of having HIV dementia.
An editorial on the study noted that in countries that have few, if any, neurologists, and where HIV infection often presents with an overwhelming opportunistic infection such as tuberculosis or cryptococcal meningitis, it is no surprise that what can seem to be mild cognitive deficits are under-recognised or considered unimportant.
However, the editorial further notes that the findings could also have significant implications on HIV control in the region, since HIV-related neurocognitive impairment has been associated with both high rates of risky sexual behaviour, and the failure of patients to be adherent to treatment (which in turn increases the risk of drug resistance).
Failure to recognise cognitive impairment will not only impair individual therapy but will harm the efforts to control HIV in a community, as cognitively impaired patients are less inhibited and are more likely to engage in HIV-related risk behaviour. This may be compounded if the transmitted strains are also resistant to HAART."
The authors say although done on a small scale, the study showed that HIV dementia exists in high proportions in sub-Saharan Africa and is an under-recognised condition that needs to be studied and treated.
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200702050358.html
According to a study published in the January 30th issue of the journal Neurology, HIV-related neurological problems are common in Uganda and Africa in general.
"HIV dementia is common in HIV-sero positive Ugandan individuals attending an Aids clinic.
It is more frequently associated with patients of advanced age and decreased CD4 count," concluded the study. It was aimed at measuring the frequency and associated risk factors of HIV dementia in an HIV clinic where 24 of 78 (31 per cent) randomly sampled patients had HIV dementia.
Dementia is a medical term, which in lay-language refers to loss of one's memory; continuous loss of one's brainpower.
The study looked at 178 subjects from September 2003 to January 2004. Seventy-eight were HIV-positive patients recruited from the Infectious Disease Clinic in Mulago Hospital, Makerere University, while 100 were HIV-negative individuals recruited from the Aids Information Centre who were used to obtain normative data for the cognitive tests.
According to a January 29 release from the Johns Hopkins University in the United States of America, whose researchers in collaboration with Ugandan counterparts carried out the study, HIV dementia is defined as memory, learning, behavioural and motor disabilities that interfere with normal daily life and in extreme cases lead to total disability and a bedridden state.
HIV dementia is treatable and potentially reversible with the same antiretroviral medication that is used to treat the infection. Treatment can even restore completely normal cognitive function to some of those affected. The Mulago study none-the-less, found that each additional 10 years of age conferred a greater than two-fold risk of HIV dementia and reduced levels of CD4 count, which was associated with a 60 percent increase in the odds of having HIV dementia.
An editorial on the study noted that in countries that have few, if any, neurologists, and where HIV infection often presents with an overwhelming opportunistic infection such as tuberculosis or cryptococcal meningitis, it is no surprise that what can seem to be mild cognitive deficits are under-recognised or considered unimportant.
However, the editorial further notes that the findings could also have significant implications on HIV control in the region, since HIV-related neurocognitive impairment has been associated with both high rates of risky sexual behaviour, and the failure of patients to be adherent to treatment (which in turn increases the risk of drug resistance).
Failure to recognise cognitive impairment will not only impair individual therapy but will harm the efforts to control HIV in a community, as cognitively impaired patients are less inhibited and are more likely to engage in HIV-related risk behaviour. This may be compounded if the transmitted strains are also resistant to HAART."
The authors say although done on a small scale, the study showed that HIV dementia exists in high proportions in sub-Saharan Africa and is an under-recognised condition that needs to be studied and treated.
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200702050358.html
posted by AIDS-Care-Watch at 1:32 pm
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