Scientists: People with HIV are more likely to develop dementia

 

Experts from the US company Kaiser Permanente, which provides health insurance services, have found that older adults with HIV have more dementia than others.
They talked about this in an article in AIDS magazine.

The researchers analyzed data from electronic medical records of patients over 50 years old
– 13.3 thousand infected with HIV and 155.4 without it. The incidence of dementia in people living with HIV in the period 2000-2016 was nearly twice that of people without HIV. Although by 2015-2016 the incidence of dementia had decreased by 8% for patients with HIV and by 3.1% for patients without HIV, there was still a significant gap in incidence.

HIV also affects the nervous system, so people with it are more likely to develop neurological diseases. Although the prevalence of antiviral therapy has played a role, cognitive impairment is more common in people with HIV than in people without HIV.

Researchers recommend that doctors pay more attention to this group of patients – timely treatment will reduce the risk.