Photo Credit: Selvanegra

Adding albumin to the Veterans Aging Cohort Study Index 2.0 (VACS2.0) improved correlations with neuropsychological performance (NP) and frailty among patients with HIV, according to results published in JAIDS. Cynthia Yan and colleagues examined NP Z-scores learning, retention, executive functioning (EF), psychomotor function/processing speed (PM/PS), language, global cognition, and neuroimaging measures (brain volumetrics) in 162 patients with HIV. A subset of the sample was classified as frail (n=18) or not (n=141). Higher VACS scores significantly correlated with lower brain volumes. Higher VACS2.0 scores were associated with reduced NP in the EF and PM/PS domains, primarily driven by albumin. People with HIV and frail had significantly greater VACS2.0 scores than non-frail people with HIV. “These findings suggest that the VACS2.0 index (especially albumin) is a valuable measure for clinicians to improve outcomes in people with HIV,” Dr. Yan and colleagues wrote.