| Publication Abstract Display | | Type: Poster | | Title: Interrelationships of age, prospective memory, and health-related quality of life in HIV infection. | | Authors: Doyle K, Weber E, Atkinson JH, Grant I, Woods SP, and the HNRC Group | | Date: 02-15-2012 | | Abstract:Both HIV infection and aging are independently associated with deficits in prospective memory (PM), which is a dissociable and ecologically relevant aspect of episodic memory involving the ability to execute future intentions. As the incidence and prevalence of HIV infection among older adults is increasing, the current study sought to investigate the possible differential effects of PM on health-related quality of life (QoL) in older and younger HIV-infected adults. Seventy-two HIV+ older adults (i.e., ≥ 50 years) and forty-one HIV+ younger adults (i.e., ≤ 40 years) were administered the MOS 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), the Memory for Intentions Screening Test (MIST), and the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ). The PRMQ PM scales were predictive of QoL across both age groups, but results showed a significant interaction between time-based PM and age group on both mental and physical QoL, even after controlling for other demographic and medical risk factors. Follow-up analyses revealed that lower time-based PM was associated with lower QoL in younger, but not older HIV+ subjects. In the younger cohort, time-based PM, PRMQ PM scales, and current major depressive disorder were sole predictors of QoL, independent of disease severity, substance abuse, and global neurocognitive impairment. These findings are commensurate with prior data showing that PM is an important predictor of everyday functioning in HIV infection. Whether the relatively stronger predictive value of PM impairment on QoL in the younger versus older HIV-infected cohorts is moderated by age-related differences in the deployment of compensatory strategies remains to be determined. |
return to publications listing
|