NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL PERFORMANCE AND CD4 LEVELS IN HIV-1 ASYMPTOMATIC INFECTION

The performance of 68 HIV-1 seropositive asymptomatic (HIV+) subjects stratified on CD4 level were compared with 82 HIV-1 seronegative (HIV- ) subjects on a battery of neuropsychological, mood state, and perceiv ed health status measures. The neuropsychological test battery include d measures of attention, reaction time, memory, intellectual ability, psychomotor speed, frontal lobe or ''executive'' function, and decisio n time. None of the HIV+ subjects were taking antiviral agents. The gr oups did not differ for age, mood state, or WAIS-R Verbal and Performa nce IQ scores. Due to group differences for education and weekly ethan ol consumption, both variables were used as covariates in multivariate analyses of variance. Relatively few differences were observed betwee n subgroups of HIV+ patients or between these subgroups and control su bjects. These data suggest that factors other than absolute levels of immunosuppression, as expressed by CD4 levels alone, appear to be resp onsible for the deficits observed in HIV+ asymptomatic patients.