Effect of HIV and Interpersonal Trauma on Cortical Thickness, Cognition, and Daily Functioning

• Published in: Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) Vol. 84; no. 4; pp. 405 - 413
• Main Authors: Kapetanovic, Suad, Norato, Gina, Nair, Govind, Julnes, Peter Siyahhan, Traino, Katherine A., Geannopoulos, Katrina, Smith, Bryan R., Snow, Joseph, Nath, Avindra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes 01-08-2020; Copyright Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Ovid Technologies
• Subjects: Activities of Daily Living; Basal ganglia; Basal Ganglia - physiology; Brain; Brain Cortical Thickness; Brain injury; Cognition; Cognition - physiology; Cognitive ability; Cognitive tasks; Cross-Sectional Studies; Exposure; Female; Ganglia; HIV; HIV Infections - physiopathology; HIV Infections - psychology; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Morphology; Neuroimaging; Neuropsychological Tests; Psychological Trauma - psychology; Regression analysis; Short term memory; Synergistic effect; Task Performance and Analysis; Thickness; Variance analysis
• ISSN: 1525-4135; 1944-7884
• DOI: 10.1097/QAI.0000000000002358

BACKGROUND:Interpersonal trauma (IPT) is highly prevalent among HIV-positive (HIV+) individuals, but its relationship with brain morphology and function is poorly understood.
SETTING:This cross-sectional analysis evaluated the associations of IPT with cognitive task performance, daily functioning, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain cortical thickness, and bilateral volumes of 4 selected basal ganglia regions in a US-based cohort of aviremic HIV+ individuals, with (HIV+ IPT+) and without IPT exposure (HIV+ IPT−), and sociodemographically matched HIV-negative controls with (HIV− IPT+) and without IPT exposure (HIV− IPT−).
METHODS:Enrollees completed brain MRI scans, a semistructured psychiatric interview, a neurocognitive battery, and 3 measures of daily functioning. Demographic and clinical characteristics of the 4 groups were described, and pairwise between-group comparisons performed using χ tests, analysis of variance, or t-tests. Linear or Poisson regressions evaluated relationships between group status and the outcomes of interest, in 6 pairwise comparisons, using Bonferroni correction for statistical significance.
RESULTS:Among 187 participants (mean age 50.0 years, 63% male, 64% non-white), 102 were HIV+ IPT+, 35 were HIV+ IPT−, 26 were HIV− IPT−, and 24 were HIV− IPT+. Compared with the remaining 3 groups, the HIV+ IPT+ group had more activities of daily living declines, higher number of impaired Patientʼs Assessment of Own Functioning Inventory scores, and lower cortical thickness in multiple cerebral regions. Attention/working memory test performances were significantly better in HIV− IPT− compared with the HIV+ IPT+ and HIV+ IPT− groups. Basal ganglia MRI volumes were not significantly different in any between-group comparisons.
CONCLUSION:IPT exposure and HIV infection have a synergistic effect on daily functioning and cortical thickness in aviremic HIV+ individuals.