title: High prevalence of suspected HIV-associated dementia in adult Malawian HIV patients.
abstract: HIV-associated dementia (HAD) has received little attention in sub-Saharan Africa, and there are no data available from Malawi. We used the International HIV Dementia Scale (IHDS), a cross-cultural, simple and validated screening tool to study the prevalence of suspected HAD, defined as an IHDS score <or=10, in adult patients of a large urban antiretroviral (ART) clinic in Blantyre, Malawi. Use of the IHDS was feasible in our setting. The overall prevalence of suspected HAD was 14.0% (95% confidence interval 8.9-19.1%); there was no significant difference in prevalence between 134 patients on ART for at least six months and 45 patients not on ART (13.4% versus 15.6%; P = 0.722). Male gender and low education level were independent risk factors of suspected HAD. More knowledge of the value of the IHDS to predict ART outcomes is required.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Malawi, Blantyre, Malawi.
authors.forename: V N
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Mungwira
authors.forename: T F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Tarumbiswa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Heikinheimo
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: van Oosterhout
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008295:Malawi / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult