Objective: To report headache (HA) data collected from subjects in a l
ongitudinal study of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 and the cent
ral nervous system (CNS). Design/methods: Baseline data from 229 ambul
atory HIV-seropositive (HIVS) and 53 seronegative control subjects wer
e analyzed. Subjects were classified by the presence or absence of HIV
-1-associated HAs and HIV-l-associated systemic and neurologic disease
. Subjects were followed longitudinally for up to 5 years. Results: In
the cross-sectional analysis, significant associations were observed
between HIV-1-associated HAs and (1) anxiety and depression, and (2) a
history of drug use, psychiatric disease, and non-HIV-l neurologic di
sease. No significant differences in laboratory values were found betw
een subjects with HIV-1-associated HA compared with those without HA.
When HIVS subjects were followed longitudinally, onset of new HIV-l-as
sociated systemic or neurologic disease over 1 year was not predicted
by the presence of an HIV-1-associated HA at baseline. Conclusion: Hea
daches are common in HIV+ persons at all stages of disease. Presence o
f HIV-l-associated HAs at baseline were not associated with neurologic
disease progression over 1 year of follow-up in our sample.