The neurocognitive implications of depression and socioeconomic status in people with HIV

ABSTRACT

Objective

This cross-sectional study investigates the independent and interactive effects of depression and socioeconomic status (SES) on neurocognition in a diverse sample of people with HIV (PWH).

Method

The sample of 119 PWH (71% Latinx, 27% female) completed comprehensive neurocognitive and psychosocial evaluations and were separated into two groups: those with a history of depression diagnosis (n = 47) and those without (n = 72).

Results

The results of regression analyses indicated that lifetime depression was not associated with lower SES nor with worse neurocognitive performance on any neurocognitive outcome. However, a significant main effect of SES was observed on the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (total), indicating that higher SES was associated with better verbal learning performance (B= .11, SE = .05, p< .02). Lastly, the results revealed an interactive effect of lifetime depression and SES, such that individuals with depression and higher SES performed better on tests of attention/working memory (i.e., WAIS-III Letter-Number Sequencing, B= .08, SE = .04, p< .02; Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test, B= .39, SE = .16, p< .02).

Conclusions

Depression and SES appear to play an important role in the neurocognitive performance of PWH. Specifically, higher SES appears to have a protective effect on attention/working memory among PWH only if they have co-morbid history of lifetime depression.

KEYWORDS:

• Neurocognition
• depression
• socioeconomic status
• HIV
• health disparities

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all participants for their contributions to the research and the Harlem Community and Academic Partnership for their support of this work in the community. This research was supported by a K23 from NIMH (K23MH079718) and an R01 from the NIH (R01AG065110-01A1). For additional publications from this grant, please see url: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/?term=K23MH079718

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health; National Institutes of Health