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Information Processing Deficit in Older Adults With HIV Infection: A Comparison With Parkinson’s Disease

Objective: Individuals with HIV treated with antiretroviral therapy can expect to reach average life span, making them susceptible to combined disease and aging effects on cognitive and motor functions. Slowed processing speed in HIV is a concern for cognitive and everyday functioning and is sensitive to declines in aging. We hypothesized that information processing (IP) deficits, over and above that expected with normal aging, would occur in older HIV patients similar to those observed in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients, with both conditions affecting frontostriatal pathways. Method: Groups comprised 26 individuals with HIV infection, 29 with mild-to-moderate PD, and 21 healthy controls (C). Speed of IP was assessed with the oral version of the Symbol Digit Modalities Test and the color naming condition of the Golden Stroop Task. Results: The HIV group was impaired on speed of IP tasks compared with both the C and PD groups. Even after controlling for normal aging effects, older age in the HIV group correlated with IP slowing. Slower IP speed was associated with poorer general cognitive ability and more extrapyramidal motor signs in older HIV-infected individuals. Conclusions: The notable effects of impaired IP speed, over and above neurotypical age-related declines, indicate that older HIV-infected individuals may have an enhanced vulnerability for developing nonmotor and motor symptoms despite antiretroviral therapy. Assessing for oral IP speed may provide the unique opportunity to identify early signs of progressive clinical declines in HIV.