Supplementary Material for: Loneliness in Older Black Adults with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Is Associated with Poorer Cognition

Background: The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is
associated with cognitive impairment, and loneliness is associated with
cognitive decline in old age. Older Black adults with HIV may be at
particular risk of loneliness due to stigma and lack of social
resources. Objective: We tested the hypotheses that (1)
older Black adults with HIV would show greater loneliness than older
White adults with HIV, and (2) greater loneliness among older Black
adults with HIV would be associated with poorer cognitive function. Methods:
A total of 370 participants (177 with HIV, 193 without HIV; mean age
58.8 years, standard deviation 6.2 years; mean education 13.4 years,
standard deviation 2.9 years; 73.9% male, 68.9% Black) in a
community-based cross-sectional study of the Rush Center of Excellence
on Disparities in HIV and Aging (CEDHA) completed a 5-item self-report
scale used to measure emotional loneliness and a battery of cognitive
measures. Results: Contrary to our expectations, older
Black adults indicated less overall loneliness than White adults (β =
-0.3893, SE = 0.1466, p = 0.0087) in models controlling for the
effects of age, education, sex, global cognition, and income. However,
in models with cognitive function as the outcome, an interaction between
race and loneliness was observed, such that older Black adults who
indicated greater loneliness showed poorer cognitive function relative
to White adults (β = -0.2736, SE = 0.1138, p = 0.0174). Conclusion:
Older Black adults with HIV reported less loneliness than older White
adults; however, the inverse association between loneliness and
cognitive function was stronger in Black than White older adults.
Additional work is needed to elucidate the mechanisms underlying this
interaction.