Covert orienting of visuospatial attention (COVAT) was examined in 88
homosexual or bisexual men: 12 with mild HIV-associated dementia complex
(ADC), 30 neurologically intact with AIDS (NI-AIDS), 23 asymptomatic HIV+
(HIV+ASX), and 23 HIV-negative control subjects. In mild ADC, COVAT was
normal for spatial but impaired for nonspatial cues; 17% of NI-AIDS and
HIV+ASX subjects had similar COVAT impairment patterns and also showed
cognitive deficits. HIV+ subjects with normal COVAT showed normal cognitive
performance. Impairment of nonspatial attentional processing in the ADC
subjects and subgroups of the neurologically intact HIV+ subjects may
reflect early subcortical dysfunction caused by HIV infection. COVAT
assessment may be sensitive for detection of early subclinical neurological
impairment in HIV infection.
Abstract Teaser