Alcohol consumption and neurocognitive deficits in people with well-treated HIV in Switzerland.

BACKGROUND

Hazardous alcohol consumption and HIV infection increase the risk of neurocognitive impairment (NCI). We examined the association between alcohol consumption and specific neurocognitive domain function in people with HIV (PWH) taking modern antiretroviral therapy.

METHODS

The Neurocognitive Assessment in the Metabolic and Aging Cohort (NAMACO) study is a prospective, longitudinal, multicentre and multilingual (French, German and Italian) study of patients aged ≥45 years old enrolled in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS). Baseline data from 981 study participants were examined. Five neurocognitive domains were evaluated: motor skills, speed of information processing, attention/working memory, executive function and verbal episodic memory. NCI was examined as binary (presence/absence) and continuous (mean z-score) outcomes against Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test for Consumption (AUDIT-C) scores using logistic and linear regression models, respectively.

RESULTS

Most participants (96.2%) had undetectable viral loads and 64% were aged >50 years old. Hazardous alcohol consumption was observed in 49.4% of participants and binge drinking in 4.2%. While alcohol consumption frequency and quantity were not associated with NCI, the practice of binge drinking was significantly associated with impaired motor skills and overall neurocognitive function in both binary (odds ratio, OR ≥2.0, P <0.05) and continuous (mean z-score difference -0.2 to -0.4, P ≤0.01) outcomes. A significant U-shaped distribution of AUDIT-C score was also observed for motor skills and overall neurocognitive function.

CONCLUSIONS

In this cohort of PWH with well-controlled HIV infection, NCI was associated with the practice of binge drinking rather than alcohol consumption frequency or quantity. Longitudinal analysis of alcohol consumption and NCI in this population is currently underway.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors of this paper have read the journal’s policy and have the following competing interests: KEAD’s institution has received research funding unrelated to this publication from Gilead and sponsorship to specialist meetings from MSD. IL reports no disclosures. NB received sponsorship to specialist meetings from MSD. IN reports no disclosures. AC’s institution has received unrestricted education grants from AbbVie, Gilead, MSD and ViiV. DB has received sponsorship to specialist meetings by Janssen-Cilag and AbbVie. PET’s institution has received research grants and advisory fees from ViiV and Gilead. RDP reports no disclosures. MC’s institution has received a research grant from ViiV and Gilead and offered expert testimony for Abbvie, MSD, Gilead and Sandoz. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products associated with this research to declare. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of Viiv.