High prevalence of neurocognitive disorders observed among adult people living with HIV/AIDS in Southern Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundComprehensive care given to people living with HIV/AIDS is improving over time; however, their concurrent cognitive illness is still ignored, under screened and treated particularly in developing countries. And this problem is also striking in Ethiopia. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders and associated factors among adult people living with HIV/AIDS.MethodsAn institution based cross sectional study was conducted from April to May, 2017 at Gamo Gofa zone public Hospitals. International HIV Dementia Scale was used to screen HIV associated neurocognitive disorders. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess predictors of neurocognitive disorders.ResultA total of 684 study participants were included in this study with a response rate of 98%. Among them, 56% were females while 44% were males. The mean (±SD) age of the participants was 38.8±8.8years. The screening prevalence of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder was 67.1% (95% CI; 63.6, 70.5). Body mass index 16 kg/m2 (AOR 4.389 (1.603–12.016)), being married (AOR 0.377 (0.213–0.666), unemployment status (AOR 3.181 (1.752–5.777) and being in WHO clinical stage T3 category/advancing stages of the disease (AOR 3.558 (1.406–9.006) were the key predictors of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders among people living with HIV/AIDS.ConclusionIn this study the screening prevalence of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder is higher than the earlier reports in Ethiopia and Africa. This indicates that early screening strategies and policies for cognitive health in people living with HIV/AIDS should be given a top priority.

Clinico-Immunological Status and Neurocognitive Function of Perinatally Acquired HIV-Positive Children on cART: A Cross-Sectional Correlational Study in South Africa

“…Similar findings were found in a South African study that reported HIV-infected children with a median age of 5 years did not show improvement in neurocognitive function after 6 months of ART (24). In addition, the finding from the present study is consistent with studies showing that children infected with HIV relative to uninfected groups evidence focal neurocognitive deficits on task that measures working memory (25); processing speed (26); visual motor integration, sustained attention (27); and motor speed coordination (28). Unlike in the present study, these studies did not find impairment on global intellectual functioning.…”

Prevalence and predictors of HIV-associated Neurocognitive Disorder in Ethiopians

“…The point prevalence of the neurocognitive de cit in this study was 41%. The present prevalence ndings were similar to those of a study from Canada (39.4%)(26) but higher when compared to other studies from Ethiopia (33.3%,67.1%) (21,27), sub-Saharan Africa (30.9%) (28). However, the present ndings were less than some of the studies conducted in Nigeria (54.3%, 2012; 66.2%, 2013) (29,30), Cameroon (85%) (31), Asia (85%) (32) and Uganda (64.4%, 2013) (33).…”

“…Gender, education, marital status, current CD4 count and hospital stay were included in the model based on previous studies showing them to be consistent predictors for HAND (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25). The logistic regression model was statistically signi cant, χ2(9) = 72.91.…”

<p>Prevalence and Predictors of Neurocognitive Impairment in Ethiopian Population Living with HIV</p>

“…Gender, education, marital status, current CD4 count and hospital stay were included in the model based on previous studies showing them to be consistent predictors for neurocognitive impairment. [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] The logistic regression model was statistically significant, χ2 (9) = 72.91. The model explained 35.0% (Nagelkerke R 2 ) of the variance in neurocognitive impairment status and correctly classified 75.8% of cases.…”