SUSTAINED-RELEASE METHYLPHENIDATE FOR COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT IN HIV-1-INFECTED DRUG-ABUSERS - A PILOT-STUDY

Other investigators have reported clinical improvement from psychostim ulant drugs in patients with HIV-1-related cognitive impairment. Howev er, no previous research has substantiated this claim by using a contr olled study design. We examined the efficacy of sustained-release meth ylphenidate (MSR) in a sample of substance abusers with HIV-1-related cognitive impairment. Eight HIV-1-infected methadone patients with imp aired neuropsychological test performance participated in an inpatient double-blind placebo-controlled crossover trial of MSA 20-40 mg/day. On a composite neuropsychological measure, patients improved significa ntly from baseline during MSR but not placebo treatment. Nevertheless, MSR performance did not differ significantly from placebo performance . Patients appeared to improve as a function of time, regardless of se quence, with somewhat move improvement during MSR than placebo treatme nt.