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Verbal Memory Performance and Depressive Symptoms in Persons with Treated HIV

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Abstract

The link between memory and comorbid depression in persons with HIV (PWH) is unclear based on evidence from published cohorts. We compared verbal memory in the HVLT-R in a well-characterized HIV cohort (n = 354) with (n = 102) or without (n = 252) comorbid depressive symptoms, and examined memory correlates in both scenarios. Memory fell within unimpaired ranges, but was lower in depressed than non-depressed PWH. Memory was related to quality of life, sociodemographic, and mental health factors, but not to assessed HIV-related or antiretroviral factors. However, longitudinally (n = 52) memory declined with presence and severity of depressive symptoms. In this treated cohort, verbal memory was unrelated to HIV-related variables but to quality of life and depressive symptoms. Greater performance decline over time also related to acute or ongoing depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the importance of addressing comorbid depressive symptoms to improve quality of life in persons with treated HIV.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the persons with HIV and the staff at Southern Alberta Clinic for their time and willingness to participate in the study and Brenda Beckthold for technical assistance.

Funding

This study was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (FRN 201803) and the Chinese Scholarship Council (202008330347).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Lujie Xu, Christopher Power & Esther Fujiwara

  2. Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Christopher Power

  3. Department of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    M. John Gill & Christopher Power

  4. Southern Alberta HIV Clinic, Alberta Health Services, Calgary, AB, Canada

    M. John Gill

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  1. Lujie Xu
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  2. M. John Gill
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  4. Esther Fujiwara
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Data curation was contributed by M.J.G. Data analysis were performed by L.X. and E.F. The first draft of the manuscript was written by L.X. and all authors reviewed and edited on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Esther Fujiwara.

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The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

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Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. The study was approved by the University of Calgary, 112 Conjoint Health Research Ethics Board, CHREB13-0615.

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Xu, L., Gill, M.J., Power, C. et al. Verbal Memory Performance and Depressive Symptoms in Persons with Treated HIV. AIDS Behav 27, 2823–2833 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-023-04006-2

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