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Successful Cognitive Aging and Health-Related Quality of Life in Younger and Older Adults Infected with HIV

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Abstract

Neurocognitive impairments commonly occur and adversely impact everyday functioning in older adults infected with HIV, but little is known about successful cognitive aging (SCA) and its health-related quality of life (HRQoL) correlates. Seventy younger (≤40 years) and 107 older (≥50 years) HIV+ adults, as well as age-matched seronegative comparison groups of younger (N = 48) and older (N = 77) subjects completed a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological, psychiatric, medical, and HRQoL assessments. SCA was operationalized as the absence of both performance-based neurocognitive deficits and self-reported symptoms (SCA-ANDS) as determined by published normative standards. A stair-step decline in SCA-ANDS was observed in accordance with increasing age and HIV serostatus, with the lowest rates of SCA-ANDS found in the older HIV+ group (19 %). In both younger and older HIV+ adults, SCA-ANDS was strongly related to better mental HRQoL. HIV infection has additive adverse effects on SCA, which may play a unique role in mental well-being among HIV-infected persons across the lifespan.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grants R01-MH073419 and P30-MH062512. Dr. R.C. Moore is supported by T32 MH019934. Dr. Fazeli is supported by R25-MH081482, R01-MH099987, and ID10-SD-057 from California HIV/AIDS Research Program (CHRP). The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense, or United States Government.

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Correspondence to Steven Paul Woods.

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The members of The HIV Neurobehavioral Research Program (HNRP) Group is listed in Appendix.

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The San Diego HIV Neurobehavioral Research Program (HNRP) group is affiliated with the University of California, San Diego, the Naval Hospital, San Diego, and the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, and it includes: Director: Igor Grant; Co-Directors: J. Hampton Atkinson, Ronald J. Ellis, and J. Allen McCutchan; Center Manager: Thomas D. Marcotte; Jennifer Marquie-Beck; Melanie Sherman; Neuromedical Component: Ronald J. Ellis (P.I.), J. Allen McCutchan, Scott Letendre, Edmund Capparelli, Rachel Schrier, Debra Rosario, Shannon LeBlanc; Neurobehavioral Component: Robert K. Heaton (P.I.), Steven Paul Woods, Mariana Cherner, David J. Moore, Erin E. Morgan, Matthew Dawson; Neuroimaging Component: Terry Jernigan (P.I.), Christine Fennema-Notestine, Sarah L. Archibald, John Hesselink, Jacopo Annese, Michael J. Taylor; Neurobiology Component: Eliezer Masliah (P.I.), Cristian Achim, Ian Everall (Consultant); Neurovirology Component: Douglas Richman (P.I.), David M. Smith; International Component: J. Allen McCutchan (P.I.); Developmental Component: Cristian Achim (P.I.), Stuart Lipton; Participant Accrual and Retention Unit: J. Hampton Atkinson (P.I.); Data Management Unit: Anthony C. Gamst (P.I.), Clint Cushman (Data Systems Manager); Statistics Unit: Ian Abramson (P.I.), Florin Vaida, Reena Deutsch, Anya Umlauf.

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Moore, R.C., Fazeli, P.L., Jeste, D.V. et al. Successful Cognitive Aging and Health-Related Quality of Life in Younger and Older Adults Infected with HIV. AIDS Behav 18, 1186–1197 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-014-0743-x

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