title: Post-traumatic stress is associated with verbal learning, memory, and psychomotor speed in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected women.
abstract: The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is higher among HIV-infected (HIV+) women compared with HIV-uninfected (HIV-) women, and deficits in episodic memory are a common feature of both PTSD and HIV infection. We investigated the association between a probable PTSD diagnosis using the PTSD Checklist-Civilian (PCL-C) version and verbal learning and memory using the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test in 1004 HIV+ and 496 at-risk HIV- women. HIV infection was not associated with a probable PTSD diagnosis (17% HIV+, 16% HIV-; p = 0.49) but was associated with lower verbal learning (p < 0.01) and memory scores (p < 0.01). Irrespective of HIV status, a probable PTSD diagnosis was associated with poorer performance in verbal learning (p < 0.01) and memory (p < 0.01) and psychomotor speed (p < 0.001). The particular pattern of cognitive correlates of probable PTSD varied depending on exposure to sexual abuse and/or violence, with exposure to either being associated with a greater number of cognitive domains and a worse cognitive profile. A statistical interaction between HIV serostatus and PTSD was observed on the fine motor skills domain (p = 0.03). Among women with probable PTSD, HIV- women performed worse than HIV+ women on fine motor skills (p = 0.01), but among women without probable PTSD, there was no significant difference in performance between the groups (p = 0.59). These findings underscore the importance of considering mental health factors as correlates to cognitive deficits in women with HIV.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (MC 913), University of Illinois at Chicago, 912 S Wood St, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA. lrubin@psych.uic.edu.
authors.forename: Leah H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Rubin
authors.affiliation: Hektoen Institute of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pyra
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (MC 913), University of Illinois at Chicago, 912 S Wood St, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA.
authors.forename: Judith A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.affiliation: Hektoen Institute of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.|The Core Center, Bureau of Health Services of Cook County, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Kathleen M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.affiliation: Hektoen Institute of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.|The Core Center, Bureau of Health Services of Cook County, Chicago, IL, USA.|Department of Medicine, Stroger Hospital and Rush University, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Mardge H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Eileen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Valcour
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Milam
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Anastos
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Mary A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alden
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, SUNY-Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Deborah R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Gustafson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (MC 913), University of Illinois at Chicago, 912 S Wood St, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA.|Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Pauline M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Maki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000821:virology; D014706:Verbal Learning
keywords: Cognition; HIV; Post-traumatic stress disorder; Women