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Published on: January 21, 2021
Neurocognitive functioning and HAART in HIV and hepatitis C virus co-infection
Thomas D Parsons1, Karen A Tucker, Colin D Hall
1University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-7025, USA. tparsons@neurology.unc.edu
Objectives:
This study examined the effects of HAART on neurocognitive functioning in persons with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV co-infection.
Design:
A prospective study examining neurocognitive performance before and after HAART initiation.
Method:
Participant groups included a mono-infected group (45 HIV+/HCV- participants) and a co-infected group (20 HIV+/HCV+ participants). A neuropsychological battery (attention/concentration, psychomotor speed, executive functioning, verbal memory, visual memory, fine motor, and gross motor functioning) was used to evaluate all participants. After 6 months of HAART, 31 HIV+ mono-infected and 13 HCV+/HIV+ co-infected participants were reevaluated.
Results:
Neurocognitive functioning by domain revealed significantly worse performance in the co-infected group when compared to the monoinfected group on domains of visual memory and fine motor functioning. Assessment of neurocognitive functioning after antiretroviral therapy revealed that the co-infected group was no longer performing worse than the monoinfected group.
Conclusions:
The findings of the current study suggest that persons with HCV+/HIV+ co-infection may have greater neurocognitive declines than persons with HIV infection alone. HCV+/HIV+ co-infection may accelerate the progression of HIV related neurocognitive decline.
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