Rehabilitation medicine consultation in persons hospitalized with AIDS. An analysis of thirty cases.

This retrospective study outlines interventions taken as a result of rehabilitation medicine consultation in persons hospitalized with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The medical records of 30 persons with HIV infection consecutively referred for rehabilitation medicine consultation over a one-year period were reviewed. The sample was composed primarily of white, homosexual males with a mean age of 38.5 (SD, 8.5) years and a mean length of AIDS diagnosis of 14.6 (SD, 14.1) months. Rehabilitation medicine evaluation resulted in additional diagnoses in four cases (13.3%), prescriptions for new medications in 8 (26.7%), physical modalities/devices in 9 (30.0%) and referrals to occupational, physical and speech therapies in 26 (86.7%), 24 (80.0%) and 3 (10.0%) patients, respectively. Interventions were often directed toward deconditioning, painful peripheral neuropathy and fatigue. Mean survival after rehabilitation consultation was approximately 23 weeks. No intervention was novel or unusual suggesting that current knowledge is sufficient to manage much of the disability associated with HIV infection. This study concludes that rehabilitation medicine can contribute to the management of persons hospitalized with AIDS. Further research should address efficacy of intervention, fatigue as a source of disability and the value of early rehabilitation intervention.