Am J Psychiatry 1993; 150:922-927
Copyright © 1993 by American Psychiatric Association
Depression and neuropsychological performance in asymptomatic HIV infection
RA Bornstein, P Pace, P Rosenberger, HA Nasrallah, MF Para, CC Whitacre and RJ Fass
Department of Psychiatry, Ohio State University College of Medicine.
OBJECTIVE: The authors examined the effect of depression on
neuropsychological performance in HIV-infected men. Previous studies have
suggested that depression may account for the neuropsychological
abnormalities observed in some patients with HIV infection, but few studies
have specifically examined this question. METHOD: An extensive
neuropsychological test battery was administered to 121 HIV- seropositive
asymptomatic men and 42 HIV-seronegative comparison subjects. The
seropositive subjects were grouped into depressed and non- depressed groups
on the basis of scores on the Beck Depression Inventory, Hamilton Rating
Scale for Depression, and Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R.
RESULTS: Statistical comparisons revealed very few measures on which the
depressed seropositive subjects scored significantly worse than either of
the nondepressed comparison groups. The nondepressed seropositive group
differed consistently from the seronegative comparison subjects on measures
of verbal memory and dexterity. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that the
subtle neuropsychological abnormalities observed in some asymptomatic HIV-
seropositive subjects cannot be attributed to depression. These data also
indicate the advantages of a multifaceted approach to assessment of
depression.
