Isolating Cognitive and Neurologic HIV Effects in Substance-Dependent, Confounded Cohorts: A Pilot Study

Controversy exists as to whether effects of HIV infection can be detected in the cognitive profiles of substance users, with methodological differences in degree of control for confounding factors a major contributor to empirical discrepancies. To address this shortcoming, we conducted a small but w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society 2013-04, Vol.19 (4), p.463-473
Main Authors: Byrd, Desiree A., Robinson-Papp, Jessica, Mindt, Monica Rivera, Mintz, Letty, Elliott, Kathryn, Lighty, Quenesha, Morgello, Susan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome
Adult
AIDS
Blood & organ donations
Cognition & reasoning
Cognition Disorders - etiology
Cohort Studies
Comorbidity
Confounding (Statistics)
Dementia
Drug use
Female
HIV
HIV Infections - complications
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humans
Infections
Male
Methadone
Methadone - therapeutic use
Middle Aged
Motor Activity
Narcotics
Narcotics - therapeutic use
Nervous system
Neurologic Examination
Neuropsychological Tests
Pilot Projects
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Reading
Regression Analysis
Substance-Related Disorders - complications
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Controversy exists as to whether effects of HIV infection can be detected in the cognitive profiles of substance users, with methodological differences in degree of control for confounding factors a major contributor to empirical discrepancies. To address this shortcoming, we conducted a small but well-controlled study aimed at isolating HIV neurocognitive (NC) effects in a group of chronic substance users. Thirty HIV-negative substance users were individually matched to 30 HIV-positive substance users on relevant medical and demographic factors, including reading level and methadone therapy status. Results revealed that reading level, methadone maintenance therapy, and positive urine toxicology each exerted significant influence on NC function, and that HIV status was a significant predictor of learning and speeded processing after these control factors were considered. The HIV-positive group also displayed significantly more neurologically assessed motor impairment (p < .05), which was specifically related to impaired cognition in this group and independent of degree of immunocompromise. These data demonstrate the need for increased attention to clinical/demographic characteristics of groups under study. They also show that with applied methodological rigor, the deleterious effects of HIV on cognition can be parsed from substance use, even in small samples with chronic and active use histories. (JINS, 2013, 19, 1–11)
ISSN:1355-6177
1469-7661
DOI:10.1017/S1355617712001634