Prevalence of HIV-1 Infection in an elderly rural population and associations with neurocognitive impairment.

OBJECTIVE:We explored the prevalence of HIV infection in older rural South Africans and its associations, as well as the point prevalence of dementia and its associations with HIV and aging. DESIGN:We utilized a cross-sectional analytic design. METHODS:Using the brief Community Screening Instrument for Dementia together with a rapid HIV test, we conducted a home-based screening survey among 1150 older South Africans. We explored the prevalence of HIV and dementia, and their associations using descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis. RESULTS:The HIV prevalence was 4.78%. Overall, participants were on average 71.3 years old, with nearly 70% having no primary school education. HIV+ participants were significantly younger, more likely to be single and had lower BMI. The overall dementia prevalence was 11.04%. HIV+ participants had higher rates of dementia compared with HIV- participants (18.18 vs. 10.68%) but the difference was NS. In adjusted analysis, screened dementia was associated with older age, the presence of self-reported depression and HIV+ status. Participants were also more likely to self-report cognitive impairment if they were older, depressed and had objective evidence of dementia. CONCLUSION:Infection with HIV in rural older South Africans is a prevalent problem, and together with older age, is a significant contributor to cognitive impairment. It is possible that HIV infection contributes to dementia on the basis of an acceleration of degeneration - because our HIV-infected participants were younger - AND an accentuation of aging - because of the higher rates of impairment for similar age groups.