Accelerated and accentuated neurocognitive aging in HIV infection.
There is debate as to whether the neurocognitive changes associated with HIV infection represent an acceleration of the typical aging process or more simply reflect a greater accentuated risk for age-related declines. We aimed to determine whether accelerated neurocognitive aging is observable in a sample of older HIV-infected individuals compared to age-matched seronegatives and older old (i.e., aged ≥65) seronegative adults. Participants in a cross-sectional design included 48 HIV-seronegative (O-) and 40 HIV-positive (O+) participants between the ages of 50-65 (mean ages = 55 and 56, respectively) and 40 HIV-seronegative participants aged ≥65 (OO-; mean age = 74) who were comparable for other demographics. All participants were administered a brief neurocognitive battery of attention, episodic memory, speeded executive functions, and confrontation naming (i.e., Boston Naming Test). The O+ group performed more poorly than the O- group (i.e., accentuated aging), but not differently from the OO- on digit span and initial recall of a supraspan word list, consistent with an accelerating aging profile. However, the O+ group's performance was comparable to the O- group on all other neurocognitive tests (ps > 0.05). These data partially support a model of accelerated neurocognitive aging in HIV infection, which was observed in the domain of auditory verbal attention, but not in the areas of memory, language, or speeded executive functions. Future studies should examine whether HIV-infected adults over 65 evidence accelerated aging in downstream neurocognitive domains and subsequent everyday functioning outcomes.
Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
David P
DP
Sheppard
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
Jennifer E
JE
Iudicello
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
Erin E
EE
Morgan
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
Rujvi
R
Kamat
Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, William S Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital, Madison, WI, USA.|Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine & Public Health, Madison, WI, USA.
Lindsay R
LR
Clark
Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
Gunes
G
Avci
Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego (SDSU/UCSD), San Diego, CA, USA.|Psychology Service, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA.
Mark W
MW
Bondi
Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA. spwoods@uh.edu.
Steven Paul
SP
Woods
D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000821:virology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D013997:Time Factors
Accelerated aging; Aging; HIV; Neurocognitive aging; Verbal attention