COMPARISON OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL PERFORMANCE BETWEEN AIDS-FREE INJECTING DRUG-USERS AND HOMOSEXUAL MEN

We performed a cross-sectional comparison of the baseline neuropsychol ogic performance of 107 injecting drug users and 230 homosexual men pa rticipating in two longitudinal studies, Cognitive tests measured atte ntion, memory and psychomotor speed. Using multiple regression modelli ng, the analysis adjusted for age, IQ score, race, six-month history o f alcohol, cocaine, opiates and marijuana use, HIV serostatus and CD4 lymphocyte count. Injecting drug users showed significantly poorer sc ores in all neuropsychologic tests in the univariate analysis. However , once adjusted for age, IQ score and race, only Rey Complex Figure te sts were significantly worse among injecting drug users. These data in dicate that age and IQ score rather than risk group account primarily for the differences in the cognitive performance, regardless of serost atus and CD4+ count.