Computer-based neuropsychological screening for AIDS dementia complex.

OBJECTIVE

To test the efficacy of reaction time (RT) measures as a screening test for AIDS dementia complex (ADC).

DESIGN AND

METHODS

Forty-two patients with mild-to-moderate ADC and 33 healthy HIV-1-seronegative control subjects took a computer-administered battery of four RT measures: simple RT, choice RT, and two types of sequential RT (1 and 2).

RESULTS

The performance of the ADC group was significantly worse than that of the control group on all four RT measures, but not all tasks were equally sensitive. The two tests of sequential RT were found to be the best discriminators, and receiver operating characteristic curves analyses indicated that the optimal cut-off z score was 1.0 for both tests.

CONCLUSIONS

These preliminary results suggest that computer-based RT, using these two measures of sequential RT, may provide a sensitive method of detecting HIV-1-associated cognitive deficits.