NEUROCOGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT IN HIV PATIENTS AND INFLUENCE OF FRAILTY

Frailty has been associated with neurocognitive impairment in cross-sectional studies. But it is unclear if it is also predictive of Neurocognitive functioning (NF) change in aging HIV+ people who are otherwise clinically stable.Consecutive HIV individuals ≥50yrs were assessed for NF at baseline and follow-up (1.07 years (IQR: 0.94-1.13)) using the computerised Cogstate battery assessing sustained and divided attention, working memory, speed processing, verbal and visual learning/memory,. Each task was transformed into z-score correcting for age and gender. A global NF performance score was defined as the mean of z-score by averaging individual task z-scores. Normal, mild and moderate/severe impairment was defined according to the global deficit score (GDS) method. NF change was defined as the delta change between baseline and follow-up mean z-score. Frailty was determined using 67-Item frailty index (FI) generated by a standardised comprehensive geriatric assessment and excluding NF for the purpose of this analysis. In a regression model, we tested whether FI was predictive of NF change over the study period. The model also included HIV parameters, and age.