P. Maruff et al., ABNORMALITIES OF VISUAL-SPATIAL ATTENTION IN HIV-INFECTION AND THE HIV-ASSOCIATED DEMENTIA COMPLEX, The Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences, 7(3), 1995, pp. 325-333
Covert orienting of visuospatial attention (COVAT) was examined in 88
homosexual or bisexual men: 12 with mild HIV-associated dement in comp
lex (ADC), 30 neurologically intact with AIDS (NI-AIDS), 23 asymptomat
ic HIV+ (HIV+ASX), and 23 HIV-negative control subjects. In mild ADC,
COVAT was normal for spatial but impaired for nonspatial cues; 17% of
NI-AIDS and HIV+ASX subjects had similar COVAT impairment patterns and
also showed cognitive deficits. HIV+ subjects with normal COVAT showe
d normal cognitive performance. Impairment of nonspatial attentional p
rocessing in the ADC subjects and subgroups of the neurologically inta
ct HIV+ subjects may reflect early subcortical dysfunction caused by H
IV infection. COVAT assessment may be sensitive for defection of early
subclinical neurological impairment in HIV infection.