Characterization and Sociocultural Predictors of Neuropsychological Test Performance in HIV+ Hispanic Individuals

• Published in: Cultural diversity & ethnic minority psychology 2008-10, Vol.14 (4), p.315-325
• Main Authors: Mindt, Monica Rivera, Byrd, Desiree, Ryan, Elizabeth L, Robbins, Reuben, Monzones, Jennifer, Arentoft, Alyssa, Germano, Kaori Kubo, Morgello, Susan, Henniger, Debra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome; Adult; Brain; Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; Cognition Disorders - epidemiology; Cognition Disorders - ethnology; Culture; Educational Status; Female; Hispanic Americans; Hispanic Americans - statistics & numerical data; HIV; HIV Infections - epidemiology; HIV Infections - ethnology; Human; Humans; Language; Latinos/Latinas; Literacy; Male; Neurology; Neuropsychological Tests; Neuropsychology; Prospective Studies; Psychology; Social Factors; Sociocultural Factors; Test Performance
• ISSN: 1099-9809; 1939-0106
• DOI: 10.1037/a0012615

Hispanic individuals in the U.S. have been disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS, yet little is known regarding the neuropsychological sequelae of HIV within the Hispanic population. This study characterized neuropsychological (NP) test performance of HIV+ English-speaking Hispanic participants ( n = 51) and investigated the combined roles of sociocultural factors (e.g., ethnicity, socioeconomic status [SES] proxy, and reading level) on NP test performance among our HIV+ Hispanic and non-Hispanic White participants ( n = 49). Results revealed that the pattern of NP impairment in HIV+ Hispanic participants is consistent with the frontal-striatal pattern observed in HIV-associated CNS sequelae, and the overall prevalence of global NP impairment was high compared to previous reports with more ethnically homogeneous, non-Hispanic White cohorts. Multivariate prediction models that considered both sociocultural factors and CD4 count revealed that reading level was the only unique predictor of global NP functioning, learning, and attention/working memory. In contrast, ethnicity was the only unique predictor of abstraction/executive functioning. This study provides support for the use of neuropsychological evaluation in detecting HIV-associated NP impairment among HIV+ Hispanic participants and adds to the growing literature regarding the importance of considering sociocultural factors in the interpretation of NP test performance.