Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE68198, USA.
Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2020 Jul;26(6):607-623. doi: 10.1017/S1355617720000120. Epub 2020 Feb 18.
There is lack of Cameroonian adult neuropsychological (NP) norms, limited knowledge concerning HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders in Sub-Saharan Africa, and evidence of differential inflammation and disease progression based on viral subtypes. In this study, we developed demographically corrected norms and assessed HIV and viral genotypes effects on attention/working memory (WM), learning, and memory.
We administered two tests of attention/WM [Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT)-50, Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS)-III Spatial Span] and two tests of learning and memory [Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R), Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R)] to 347 HIV+ and 395 seronegative adult Cameroonians. We assessed the effects of viral factors on neurocognitive performance.
Compared to controls, people living with HIV (PLWH) had significantly lower T-scores on PASAT-50 and attention/WM summary scores, on HVLT-R total learning and learning summary scores, on HVLT-R delayed recall, BVMT-R delayed recall and memory summary scores. More PLWH had impairment in attention/WM, learning, and memory. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) and current immune status had no effect on T-scores. Compared to untreated cases with detectable viremia, untreated cases with undetectable viremia had significantly lower (worse) T-scores on BVMT-R total learning, BVMT-R delayed recall, and memory composite scores. Compared to PLWH infected with other subtypes (41.83%), those infected with HIV-1 CRF02_AG (58.17%) had higher (better) attention/WM T-scores.
PLWH in Cameroon have impaired attention/WM, learning, and memory and those infected with CRF02_AG viruses showed reduced deficits in attention/WM. The first adult normative standards for assessing attention/WM, learning, and memory described, with equations for computing demographically adjusted T-scores, will facilitate future studies of diseases affecting cognitive function in Cameroonians.
喀麦隆缺乏成人神经心理学（NP）的规范标准，对撒哈拉以南非洲地区 HIV 相关神经认知障碍的了解有限，且有证据表明病毒亚型会导致炎症和疾病进展存在差异。本研究旨在制定校正后的人口统计学标准，并评估 HIV 和病毒基因型对注意力/工作记忆（WM）、学习和记忆的影响。
我们对 347 名 HIV 阳性和 395 名血清阴性的成年喀麦隆人进行了两项注意力/WM 测试（Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test [PASAT]-50、Wechsler Memory Scale [WMS]-III 空间跨度）和两项学习和记忆测试（Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised [BVMT-R]、Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised [HVLT-R]）。我们评估了病毒因素对神经认知表现的影响。
与对照组相比，HIV 感染者（PLWH）在 PASAT-50 和注意力/WM 总分、HVLT-R 总学习和学习总分、HVLT-R 延迟回忆、BVMT-R 延迟回忆和记忆总分上的 T 评分显著较低。更多的 PLWH 存在注意力/WM、学习和记忆障碍。抗逆转录病毒疗法（ART）和当前免疫状态对 T 评分没有影响。与未接受治疗且有可检测病毒血症的病例相比，未接受治疗且无病毒血症的病例在 BVMT-R 总学习、BVMT-R 延迟回忆和记忆复合分数上的 T 评分显著较低（更差）。与感染其他亚型（41.83%）的 PLWH 相比，感染 HIV-1 CRF02_AG（58.17%）的患者在注意力/WM 上的 T 评分更高（更好）。
喀麦隆的 PLWH 存在注意力/WM、学习和记忆障碍，感染 CRF02_AG 病毒的患者在注意力/WM 上的缺陷减少。本研究首次描述了评估注意力/WM、学习和记忆的成人正常标准，并给出了计算校正后 T 评分的公式，这将有助于未来在喀麦隆人开展影响认知功能的疾病研究。
