Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 24, 2026
Isolation of Leukocytes from Human Breast Milk for Use in an Antibody-dependent Cellular Phagocytosis Assay of HIV Targets
Published on: September 6, 2019
Learning and Memory in Children and Adolescents With Perinatal HIV Infection and Perinatal HIV Exposure
Sharon L Nichols1, Miriam C Chernoff, Kathleen Malee
1From the *Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California; †Center for Biostatistics in AIDS Research, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts; ‡Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois; §Department of Pediatrics, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana; ¶Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California; and ‖Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, Texas.
Insights
Youth with perinatally acquired HIV (PHIV) show subtle deficits in learning and visual memory, particularly those with advanced disease. These cognitive differences highlight the need for targeted support in children living with HIV.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Pediatric Infectious Diseases
- Psychology
Background:
- Learning and memory are crucial for daily functioning in youth.
- Cognitive function in youth with perinatally acquired HIV (PHIV) is not well understood.
- HIV can impact various aspects of a child's development and well-being.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate learning and memory differences in youth with PHIV compared to HIV-exposed but uninfected youth.
- To explore the impact of disease severity (CDC Class C) on cognitive performance.
- To identify factors associated with poorer cognitive outcomes in PHIV youth.
Main Methods:
- A substudy of the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study compared PHIV (n=173) and perinatally HIV-exposed but uninfected (PHEU, n=85) participants aged 9-19.
- Participants completed age-standardized tests of verbal and visual learning and delayed memory.
- Linear regression models analyzed memory measures, adjusting for sociodemographic covariates and HIV disease status.
Main Results:
- Unadjusted analyses revealed lower visual recognition memory and verbal recall in PHIV-C compared to PHEU.
- After adjusting for covariates, only visual recognition memory differences persisted between PHIV-C and PHEU.
- Lower CD4% and older age at peak viral load were associated with poorer learning and memory in PHIV youth.
Conclusions:
- Youth with PHIV, especially those with CDC Class C diagnosis, exhibit poorer performance in specific learning and memory domains.
- While verbal memory differences were largely explained by sociodemographics, visual memory deficits and associations with CD4% suggest subtle HIV effects.
- Findings underscore the importance of monitoring and supporting cognitive function in youth living with HIV.
Background:
Learning and memory in youth with perinatally acquired HIV (PHIV) are poorly understood, despite their importance for academic, healthcare and daily functioning.
Methods:
PHIV (n = 173) and perinatally HIV-exposed but uninfected (PHEU, n = 85) participants (aged 9-19 years) in a substudy of the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study completed age-standardized tests of verbal and visual learning and delayed memory. Linear regression models implemented via generalized estimating equations were used to compare memory measures in PHEU participants versus PHIV youth with and without Centers for Disease Control and Prevention class C diagnosis (PHIV-C, n = 45 and PHIV-non-C, n = 128, respectively), adjusting for sociodemographic covariates.
Results:
Participants (mean age = 14.10 years) were 54% female, 75% Black and 18% Hispanic. Although unadjusted analyses showed significantly lower visual recognition memory and verbal delayed recall for PHIV-C compared with PHEU participants and lower verbal learning for PHIV-C and non-C groups compared with PHEU, differences persisted only for visual recognition memory after adjusting for sociodemographic covariates. For PHIV youth, current CD4% <25 was associated with poorer verbal learning, and older age at peak viral load was associated with poorer verbal delayed recall and design memory.
Conclusions:
Youth with PHIV, particularly those with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention class C diagnosis, showed poorer performance on some measures of learning and memory compared with PHEU. Although group differences in verbal memory were largely attributable to sociodemographic characteristics, associations of class C diagnosis with poorer visual recognition memory and of current CD4% with poorer verbal learning suggest subtle effects of HIV on learning and memory in youth with PHIV.
Related Concept Videos
01:26Pharmacokinetics in Pediatric Patients: Drug Excretion
01:26Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory
01:25Immunodeficiency Diseases
There are three main causes of immunodeficiency...