Funcionamiento neuropsicológico en drogodependientes VIH/SIDA inmunodeprimidos: Importancia de la fase de la infección y del consumo de drogas.

There are not yet definitive risk factors to predict neuropsychological impairment in HIV positive subjets. The present study attemp to investigate the neuropsychological impairment nature in seropositive intravenous drug users with low CD4 cell count, as well as to determinate drug consumption and different disease stages influence on the neuropsychological functioning. We studied a sample of twenty seropositive subjects, ten of whom were asymptomatic (A3), and the other ten symptomatic (C3). In both groups half of the subjects were abstinent for more than three months, and the other half were in methadone-based programmes. Subjects were administered a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, included measuring of attention, verbal and visual memory, language, verbal/conceptual skills, motor and perceptuomotor speed, visuospatial and visuoconstructive skills, as well as frontal lobes functioning measurements. Results show that HIV infection is associated with neuropsychological impairment on drug users, which is in relation to disease progression and drugs use.