Neurocognitive impairment, depression, and anxiety in HIV-1-infected patients across western Europe and Canada: the CRANIum study - ethnicity analysis.

Purpose of the study The prevalence of neurocognitive impairment (NCI) in people living with HIV has previously been reported between 20-50%, with prevalence rates of depression reported between 12-71%. The primary objective of the CRANIum study was to describe the prevalence of a positive screen for NCI and depression/anxiety in an HIV-1-infected adult population, comparing ARV-naïve and -experienced patients. Here we present an ethnicity analysis of the CRANIum data. Methods The study was an epidemiologic, cross-sectional study that included HIV-1-infected patients >18 years old attending a routine clinic visit. One-third of patients were ART-naïve, one-third on a PI/r- and one-third on a NNRTI-based regimen. The Brief Neurocognitive Screen (BNCS) was used to screen for NCI. It consists of the Digit Symbol and Trailmaking A and B tests. A standard deviation of >1 on 2 tests or >2 on 1 test was considered a positive screen for NCI. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was used to screen for anxiety (HADS-A) and depression (HADS-D). HADS is self-administered and consists of 14 items (7 HADS-A, 7 HADS-D) scored between 0 to 3. A score of ≥8 was considered as a positive screen for either condition. Summary of results 2859 evaluable patients were included from 15 countries. Baseline characteristics are shown in table 1 (*p < 0.05 as compared with Caucasian group). Overall, 41.4% of patients had a positive screen for NCI, 33.3% for anxiety and 15.7% for depression. Results by ethnicity are shown in figure 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]