AIDS | 2019
Cross-sectional analysis of cognitive function in the MACS with multivariate normative comparisons.
Abstract
BACKGROUND\nPrevalence estimates of cognitive impairment in HIV disease vary widely. Here we used multivariate normative comparison (MNC) to identify individuals with impaired cognition, and to compare the results with those using the Frascati and Gisslén criteria.\n\n\nMETHODS\nThis project used data collected before October 2014 from bisexual/gay men from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study. 2,904 men (mean age 39.7yr, 52.7% seropositive) had complete data in six cognitive domains at their first neuropsychological evaluation. T-scores were computed for each domain and the MNC was applied to detect impairment among seronegative and seropositive groups.\n\n\nRESULTS\nThe MNC classified 6.26% of seronegative men as being impaired using a predetermined 5% false discovery rate (FDR). By contrast, the Frascati and the Gisslén criteria identified 24.54% and 11.36% of seronegative men as impaired. For seropositive men, the percent impairment was 7.45%, 25.73%, and 11.69%, respectively, by the MNC, Frascati and Gisslén criteria. When we used seronegative men without medical comorbidities as the control group, the MNC, the Frascati and the Gisslén criteria identified 5.05%, 27.07% and 4.21% of the seronegative men, and 4.34%, 30.95%, and 4.48% of the seropositive men as having cognitive impairment. For each method, serostatus was not associated with cognitive impairment.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nThe MNC controls the FDR and therefore avoids the low specificity that characterizes the Frascati and Gisslén criteria. More research is needed to evaluate the sensitivity of the MNC method in a seropositive population that may be sicker and older than the current study sample and that includes women.