title: The Edinburgh cohort of HIV-positive drug users: the relationship between auditory P3 latency, cognitive function and self-rated mood.
abstract: One hundred and six HIV-positive drug users were tested with a two-tone auditory evoked potential (AEP) task and a small battery of neuropsychological tests, to examine the relationship between the latency of the P300 component (P3) of the AEP, intellectual function, mood and drug use. Principal components analysis revealed a significant correlation between P3 latency and the first principal component (r = -0.43, P < 0.001). Varimax rotation generated three orthogonal components which we interpreted as intellectual performance, memory, and mood. Intellectual performance and self-reported mood were individually correlated with P3 latency, but memory was not (r = -0.36, P < 0.001; r = 0.23, P < 0.05; and r = -0.18, NS, respectively). Subjects with symptomatic HIV disease had a higher correlation between P3 latency and intellectual performance than subjects with asymptomatic HIV disease and, among patients with symptomatic HIV disease, poorer memory was associated with a lower CD4 count. Opiate or benzodiazepine consumption did not correlate with poor intellectual performance, memory, or self-rated mood in our sample. These results indicate that there is a relationship between AEP latency and neuropsychological measures of intellectual function, and that it is influenced by subjective mood. Surprisingly, declared current drug use has no discriminable effect on these relationships.
authors.affiliation: Regional Infectious Diseases Unit, City Hospital, Edinburgh.
authors.forename: V G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Egan
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chiswick
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Brettle
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Goodwin
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000276:immunology; D001307:Auditory Perception; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D001569:Benzodiazepines