Human immunodeficiency virus or HIV is a retrovirus that causes not only progressive immunologic disease, but also neurologic disease.

With the advent of effective, highly active, antiretroviral therapy or heart, HIV has become a chronic treatable illness.

However, many patients experience mood and cognitive changes,

especially if their HIV is poorly controlled.

In this podcast, we will review approaches for the evaluation and management

of depression and neurocognitive impairment in patients with HIV.

Thank you. depression, and neurocognitive impairment in patients with HIV. Welcome to the Carlat Psychiatry podcast. This is a special episode from the Carlat

Hospital Psychiatry Report. I'm Dr. Victoria Hendrick, the editor-in-chief of the Carlatte Hospital Psychiatry Report,

and a clinical professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. I'm also the director

of inpatient psychiatry at all of you, UCLA, Medical Center. And I'm Prob JopGil. I graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a BS degree in neuroscience, and I am

currently applying to SIDI programs. I work as a content coordinator at Carlet Publishing,

where I write CME questions and podcast scripts. Today I will be joining Dr. Hendrick on this podcast.

Dr. Hendrick, how does the risk of depression compare between

individuals with HIV or AIDS and the general population? Individuals with HIV or AIDS have more

than double the risk for depression compared to the general population, occurring in roughly

30% of patients. This high rate appears due in part to distress from the HIV diagnosis,

loss of loved ones to HIV,

stigma associated with the virus,

side effects from highly active antiretroviral therapy,

and direct effects of the virus on the brain.

Since any depressive-related symptoms, like fatigue and poor concentration, can be caused by

HIV medication side effects or HIV-related complications, such as HIV-associated neurocognitive

...