Mortality risks in gay men with human immunodeficiency virus infection and cognitive impairment

We obtained data from 111 gay men who entered a longitudinal study of the natural history of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) without clinical evidence of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and examined them regularly over a 36-month period. Using a Cox proportional-hazard regression model to compare cumulative risk of mortality in subjects with and without cognitive impairment and several putative risk factors present at baseline, we found that the mortality risk ratio (RR) associated with poor neuropsychologic test performance was significantly increased (RR = 2.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1 to 7.8), and increased further (RR = 4.1; 95% CI, 1.3 to 12.5) when adjusted for other factors associated with mortality (a history of a disturbance in movement or gait, CD4-lymphocyte and red blood-cell counts, and age). A significant increase in symptoms related to cognitive impairment and gait, a decline in neuropsychologic test performance, and declines in CD4-lymphocyte and red-cell counts occurred over the study period. A second model was constructed to adjust for changes in CD4-lymphocyte and red-cell counts, age, medical stage, and motor symptoms over the study period, but the mortality RR for poor neuropsychologic test performance at baseline changed very little (RR = 4.7; 95% CI, 1.5 to 14.9). We conclude that the presence of cognitive impairment, manifest by poor neuropsychologic test performance in both asymptomatic and symptomatic gay men with HIV infection, is associated with a significantly increased risk of death. This effect progresses in parallel with the immunologic and systemic effects of HIV.