Marseille 2007
| Abstract #362 - Mental Health and Psychosocial problems in older persons with HIV infection | ||||
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Session: 12.6: Ageing and Changeing (Parallel) on Monday @ 11.00-12.30 in PR Chaired by Gerald Gorn, Lorraine Sherr Authors: Presenting Author: Dr Balaji Wuntakal - CNWL Mental Health NHS Trust, United Kingdom |
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| Additional Authors: | ||||
| Aim: To characterise the mental health problems in older people with HIV infection referred for psychiatric opinion and management, and to compare them with referred patients of younger age. | ||||
| Method / Issue: Psychiatric case records of older persons referred to Psychological Medicine during the five-year period from 2000 to 2004 were obtained. They were compared with an example of younger referrals, which were generated by selecting the next referred person. Anonymised data were collected on demography, reasons for referral, past psychiatric history, current psychiatric diagnosis and other data. Data were analyzed across two groups using parametric and non- parametric statistics. | ||||
| Results / Comments: The total of 46 persons over the age of fifty-four were identified and compared with a similar sample of referred individuals under the age of fifty-four. There were few differences between the old and the younger samples in terms of the variables studied, although there were trends showing for example that the older group was more likely to be retired and less likely to be unemployed, and a trend in the direction of fewer of non-white participants in the older example. Depressive symptoms were the most common reason for referral in both groups, with more than 50% endorsing this reason. | ||||
| Discussion: Unlike previous study carried out at the same hospital a decade ago in a similar population group, there were no observed differences in social isolation, employment status, sexuality, previous psychiatric history and stage of HIV infection at the time of referral. The levelling of these differences over the last ten years could be attributed to several factors, which may or may not be related to changes in population, course of illness with antiretroviral medications or improved access and early recognition of the problems. | ||||
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