Trial results investigating neurocognitive impairment among HIV-infected patients were posted on ClinicalTrials.gov on 2025-08-28. The study found a significantly lower prevalence of learning impairment in HIV-positive military beneficiaries, with an Odds Ratio of 0.43 compared to HIV-negative individuals.
Background
Despite the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), the prevalence of neurocognitive impairment among HIV-infected patients continues to be an important issue. Although severe forms of AIDS-related dementia have diminished, milder forms of cognitive impairment have been noted among approximately 30% of asymptomatic HIV patients. Studies among HIV-infected U.S. military personnel regarding neurocognitive function have largely been limited to the early 1990s, before the advent of HAART.
Trial design
This completed study enrolled 250 participants to investigate the prevalence and predictors of neurocognitive impairment among HIV-infected patients. The study focused on conditions including HIV Infections and Memory, comparing HIV-positive and HIV-negative military beneficiaries.
Key results
The study reported the prevalence of neurocognitive deficits, as defined by the Global Deficit Score, among different groups:
- Among HIV-Positive-Early patients, the prevalence was 18 percentage with Impairment.
- Among HIV-Positive-Later patients, the prevalence was 20 percentage with Impairment.
- Among HIV-negative military personnel, the prevalence was 30 percentage with Impairment.
Logistic regression analyses compared the prevalence of impairment in specific cognitive domains between HIV-positive and HIV-negative military beneficiaries:
- For verbal fluency impairment, the Odds Ratio (OR) was 0.75 (95% Confidence Interval: 0.35 to 1.61), with a p-value of 0.45.
- For abstraction executive functioning impairment, the OR was 0.74 (95% Confidence Interval: 0.35 to 1.56), with a p-value of 0.43.
- For speed of information processing impairment, the OR was 1.45 (95% Confidence Interval: 0.41 to 5.17), with a p-value of 0.56.
- For attention/working memory impairment, the OR was 1.32 (95% Confidence Interval: 0.6 to 2.93), with a p-value of 0.49.
- Notably, for learning impairment, the OR was 0.43 (95% Confidence Interval: 0.22 to 0.84), with a p-value of 0.01, indicating a statistically significant difference.
What this means
The results suggest that in this specific cohort of military beneficiaries, HIV-positive individuals showed a lower prevalence of overall neurocognitive deficits (18-20 percentage) compared to HIV-negative individuals (30 percentage) based on the Global Deficit Score. More specifically, the statistically significant finding of an Odds Ratio of 0.43 for learning impairment (p-value 0.01) indicates that HIV-positive military beneficiaries in this study had a significantly lower prevalence of learning impairment compared to their HIV-negative counterparts. This finding is notable and warrants further investigation into the specific factors contributing to this observation within this population, especially considering the general understanding of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders.
Source
The information regarding these trial results was obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov, a public database of clinical studies. The results for study NCT00893815, titled "Prevalence and Predictors of Neurocognitive Impairment Among HIV-infected Patients", were posted on 2025-08-28 on clinicaltrials.gov.