Evaluation of a Short Version Computerized Test for Processing Speed to Detect Cognitive Disorders in HIV+ Patients

The objective of this prospective study is to evaluate the prevalence of neurocognitive impairments in HIV infected patients comparing patients with and without HAART. Recent studies have demonstrated a specific HIV infected patients neurocognitive disorders profile. These cognitive disorders concern primarily information processing speed, memory recall, attentional abilities, work related memory, executive functions, and psychometrical speed. This cognitive profile is similar to another highly documented one, described for another central nervous system disease (CNS): multiple sclerosis. In both CNS diseases, the earliest and most severe disorder is the one related to the information processing speed. For the multiple sclerosis patients, a short cognitive test (SDMT) is actually used not only to identify cognitive disorders presence, but also in order to predict a long term disability worsening. A digital version of this test (CSCT), has recently been developed in order to make this early evaluation easier. We hypothesize that CSCT alteration would also predict HAND, in HIV infected patients. A complete neuropsychological assessment is highly time and personal consuming. This short (approximatively 2 minutes) digital test would be highly helpful to identify patients, who will need a more extensive neuropsychological assessment.