Nance M, Pirozzolo F, Levy J, Fernandez F; International Conference on AIDS.
Int Conf AIDS. 1990 Jun 20-23; 6: 173 (abstract no. F.B.383).
University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA
OBJECTIVE: To examine psychomotor speed and decision making information processing speed as measured by simple auditory and visual and complex visual reaction time (RT) in HIV seronegative, HIV seropositive, and AIDS patients. METHODS: Nineteen homosexual or bisexual males with AIDS (N=8) or pre-AIDS HIV infection (N=11) and 8 homosexual or bisexual males who recently tested HIV- were administered simple auditory, simple visual, and three-choice visual RT tasks. For each RT task, 12 responses were recorded for each hand. In each simple RT task, the patient was instructed to press a key as quickly as possible to extinguish a tone (auditory task) or lamp (visual task). In the 3 choice RT task, the subject was instructed to respond to one of three keys corresponding to the trial determined illuminated lamp as quickly as possible. Additionally, all patients were administered the vocabulary subtest of the Shipley Institute of Living Scale to control for intellectual functioning and the Beck Depression Inventory to control for depression. RESULTS: Education and age differences among the diagnostic groups were not significant. Analysis of variance (diagnostic group x RT task) revealed significant main effects for diagnostic group, F=11.10, p less than 0.001 and RT task, F=7.30, p less than 0.002 after controlling for differences due to intellectual functioning and depression. Interaction between diagnostic group and RT task was not significant. Planned comparisons showed that RT in the HIV- group was significantly shorter than RT in the AIDS group for the simple auditory task, F=19.30, p less than 0.001; the simple visual task, F=22.54 p less than 0.001 and the complex visual task, F=17.22, p less than 0.001. Similarly, RT in the HIV+ group was significantly shorter than RT in the AIDS group for the simple auditory task F=11.90, p less than 0.003 the simple visual task F=14.49, p less than 0.001 and the complex visual task F=14.23, p less than 0.001. Differences between the HIV- and HIV+ groups approached significance for simple auditory RT F=2.81, p=0.10 simple visual RT F=2.96, p=0.10 and complex visual RT tasks F=3.86; F=0.06. CONCLUSIONS: Increased simple and choice RT in AIDS patients over HIV+ and HIV- patients confirms the prediction that AIDS patients with no previously documented neurological complications demonstrate psychomotor slowing. Increased reaction time is not accounted for by depression, level of intellectual function, age, or education. Psychomotor slowing is consistent with early AIDS Dementia Complex (ADC) and may herald the onset of cognitive dysfunction in otherwise neurologically healthy patients. The addition of a signal detection, decision making component to the RT task increased reaction time equally among the three diagnostic groups demonstrating that while psychomotor speed is decreased, information processing speed for higher cognitive tasks remains unchanged relative to HIV- controls. Additionally, HIV+ patients appear to demonstrate increased reaction time over HIV- controls.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- AIDS Dementia Complex
- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
- Bisexuality
- Choice Behavior
- Decision Making
- Depressive Disorder
- Evaluation Studies
- HIV
- HIV Infections
- HIV Seronegativity
- HIV Seropositivity
- Homosexuality
- Humans
- Male
- Reaction Time
- education
- immunology
Other ID:
UI: 102184293
From Meeting Abstracts