[AIDS in elderly patients. Apropos of 22 cases observed in the Paris region]

If geriatric AIDS is defined as the occurrence of this disease in individuals over 60 years old, it represents about 5% of the cases reported to the Direction Générale de la Santé by the end of 1988. We retrospectively analyzed 22 clinical cases of geriatric AIDS observed between 1985 and 1987, i.e. 21% of the cases reported at that time. In 55% of them, infection resulted from contaminated blood transfusions. Initially, hospitalization was indicated due to a significant deterioration of the patient's general condition, however, neuropsychiatric disorders and intellectual degeneration were present in 18% of the cases. Biological anomalies at the time of admission were classical with the exception of a high frequency of leukopenia often associated with anemia or thrombopenia. During the evolution of the disease, opportunistic infections were very common (90% of the cases). However, the major characteristic of this clinical form of AIDS is the high percentage (55%) of patients suffering from major neurological and psychiatric disorders, including subacute encephalitis in more than half of these patients. The prognosis is very bad, with an average survival time of 4.3 months from the time of diagnosis (median 2.5 months). The cumulative effect of the delay in diagnosing AIDS during the first hospitalization and the classical seriousness of encephalitis suffice to explain the very poor prognosis in patients whose age can play a role in altering the immune response.