Relation of personality and attentional factors to cognitive deficits in human immunodeficiency virus-infected subjects
R. Kovner, E. Perecman, W. Lazar, B. Hainline, M. H. Kaplan, M. Lesser and R. Beresford
Department of Neurology, North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, NY 11030.
In view of the evidence that patients with human immunodeficiency virus
infection experience reactive depression and anxiety, it is important to
determine whether these factors might account for some of the cognitive
deficiencies observed in this group, as is often the case in psychiatric
populations. An extensive battery of cognitive, personality, and attention
tests was administered to 26 patients who tested positive for the human
immunodeficiency virus. In this group were patients who demonstrated no
symptoms, patients who had acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-related
complex, and patients who had acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Pearson
Product Moment correlations were computed between scores on the three types
of measures. The results of this correlational study suggest that cognitive
decline in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus is
independent of mood and attentional changes.
