Sex differences in HIV effects on visual memory among substance-dependent individuals

Abstract

HIV’s effects on episodic memory have not been compared systematically between male and female substance-dependent individuals. We administered the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test–Revised (BVMT–R) to 280 substance-dependent HIV+ and HIV− men and women. Groups were comparable on demographic, substance use, and comorbid characteristics. There were no significant main effects of sex or HIV serostatus on BVMT–R performance, but HIV+ women performed significantly more poorly on delayed recall. This effect was most prominent among cocaine-dependent HIV+ women. Our findings are consistent with recent speculation that memory impairment may be more common among HIV+ women, particularly those with a history of cocaine dependence.

Effects of sex and HIV serostatus on spatial navigational learning and memory among cocaine users

“…Our finding that both HIV-infected men and women showed poorer delayed recall compared with HIV-uninfected groups replicates and extends the previous report by Morales et al (2012) by demonstrating that spatial episodic memory impairment among HIV-infected individuals is not sex specific and is detectable among substance users. Additionally, these results are generally consistent with previous reports of impairment in verbal and visual episodic memory among HIV-infected individuals (Maki et al 2015; Keutmann et al 2016; Heaton et al 2011), indicating that episodic memory impairment associated with HIV disease is not modality specific.…”

“…These included measures of spatial working memory (n-back) (Hinkin et al 2002), strategic memory (HVLT) (Benedict et al 1998), index of semantic clustering (Woods et al 2005, Meyer et al 2014), and visuospatial episodic memory (BVMT-R Delayed Recall) (Benedict et al 1996; Keutmann et al 2016). We selected these measures based on known sensitivity to HIV effects and as validated measures of episodic memory or spatial processing.…”

“…Most published investigations of episodic memory among HIV-infected individuals have targeted verbal (e.g., Murji et al 2003; Woods et al 2005) or visual information processing (Keutmann et al 2016; Morgan et al 2009). Memory for spatial and navigational learning has been relatively understudied among persons living with HIV/AIDS, despite converging evidence from the animal literature of deleterious effects of HIV on spatial memory (Vigorito et al 2007; Carey et al 2012).…”

“…A study of 1395 women enrolled in the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) reported that verbal memory impairment was most evident among HIV-infected women who reported recent use of crack cocaine, compared with HIV-uninfected women (Meyer et al 2013). Additionally, a recent study of visuospatial episodic memory among HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected men and women substance users reported that impaired performance of the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R, see Benedict 1997) was most prominent among HIV-infected women with a history of cocaine dependence (Keutmann et al 2016). …”

Cocaine dependence modulates the effect of HIV infection on brain activation during intertemporal decision making

“…Despite our sample size of 73, we may have been underpowered to detect small effects given the 2×2 design. In addition, prior studies have found that women may be more vulnerable than men to HIV-associated neurocognitive impairments (Martin et al, 2011; Martin et al, 2016), especially in the context of co-occurring drug abuse (Keutmann et al, 2016). While we did not detect an effect of sex, larger sample sizes are needed to sufficiently explore the potential moderating effects of sex and other biological factors.…”