title: Sex differences in neuropsychological performance as an effect of human immunodeficiency virus infection: a pilot study in Zambia, Africa.
abstract: This study examined whether there are neuropsychological performance differences between human immunodeficiency virus-seropositive participants being followed at a University of Zambia clinic and demographically comparable seronegative controls being tested for infection in the same setting. All participants were administered a standardized neurocognitive test battery that has been found sensitive to HIV-associated Neurocognitive Disorder in the United States and internationally (e.g., in China, India, Romania, and Cameroon). The test battery was found to be applicable to a Zambian population. A clear HIV effect was seen with a medium to large overall effect size (Cohen d = 0.74). However, it was only the female seropositive participants who showed this HIV effect. HIV can result in neuropsychological deficits in Zambia, where clade C of the virus dominates. It is suggested that the HIV-infected women are more at risk of developing cognitive deficits than are men in this population, possibly because of sex-related social, financial, and healthcare disadvantages. However, further analyses are required regarding this conclusion because the finding was a result of an unplanned subanalysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. Knut.Hestad@svt.ntnu.no
authors.forename: Knut A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Hestad
authors.forename: J Anitha
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Menon
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Silalukey-Ngoma
authors.forename: Donald R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Franklin
authors.forename: Mwiya L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Imasiku
authors.forename: Kalima
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kalima
authors.forename: Robert K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Heaton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006678:HIV / Q000145:classification; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D055815:Young Adult; D015024:Zambia