Neuropsychological functioning in methadone maintenance patients with HIV
- Enrique Vázquez-Justo
- Esperanza Vergara-Moragues
- Adolfo Piñón Blanco
- Carlos Guillén Gestoso
- Miguel Pérez-García
ISSN: 0120-0534
Year of publication: 2016
Volume: 48
Issue: 1-3
Pages: 147-158
Type: Article
More publications in: Revista Latinoamericana de Psicología
Sustainable development goals
Abstract
Although highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has improved survival rates of HIV patients, HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) still exist in a highly prevalent group of persons with this disease. In this study we seek to evaluate the influence of drug use in the neuropsychological performance of seropositive drug users. We carried out an extensive neuropsychological evaluation and compared the performance of seropositive drug users (n=90) with that of a control group of seronegative drug users (n=48). The results reveal that methadone maintenance programmes can make the seropositive subject neuropsychologically vulnerable. Likewise, we found that giving up drugs have a protective effect in the presence of neuropsychological alterations associated with HIV. These findings lead us to suggest that seropositivity is not sufficient to explain the neuropsychological alterations of seropositive drug users, noting that these alterations are multifactorial.