Apathy correlates with cognitive performance, functional disability, and HIV RNA plasma levels in HIV-positive individuals

Abstract

We examined the relationship of apathy with neurocognitive performance, age, disease markers, and functional disability in 116 HIV-infected individuals. Apathy was assessed with the Apathy Evaluation Scale and was significantly associated with highest HIV plasma level, functional disability, and neurocognitive performance. Individuals with higher apathy levels demonstrated a stronger association between age and processing speed performance. Our findings suggest that apathy is related to poor neuropsychological functioning, HIV plasma levels, and increased functional disability in individuals with HIV. Additionally, to our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate an interactive effect of age and apathy on neuropsychological performance in HIV.

Figure 1

Significant interactions between age and apathy in predicting Stroop Word Naming, Trails A, and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III) Coding performance. High and low values of apathy represented as 1 standard deviation above and below the mean of the current sample. Age represents the minimum and maximum values in the current sample.