AIDS dementia complex

January 2007     View PDF     En español

What is ADC?

ADC is characterized by severe changes in four areas: a person’s ability to understand, process and remember information (cognition); behavior; ability to coordinate muscles and movement (motor coordination); or emotions (mood). These changes are called ADC when they’re believed to be related to HIV itself rather than other factors that might cause them, like other brain infections, drug side effects, etc.

In ADC, cognitive impairment is often characterized by memory loss, speech problems, inability to concentrate and poor judgment. Cognitive problems are often the first symptoms a person with ADC will notice. These include the need to make lists in order to remember routine tasks or forgetting, in mid-sentence, what one was talking about.

Behavioral changes in ADC are the least understood and defined. They can be described as impairments in one’s ability to perform common tasks and activities of daily living. These changes are found in 30–40% of people with early ADC.

Motor impairment is often characterized by a loss of control of the bladder; loss of feeling in and loss of control of the legs; and stiff, awkward or obviously slowed movements. Motor impairment is not common in early ADC. Early symptoms may include a change in handwriting.

Mood impairments are defined as changes in emotional responses. In ADC, this impairment is associated with conditions, such as severe depression, severe personality changes (psychosis) and, less commonly, intense excitability (mania).