This longitudinal cohort of aging HIV positive individuals will contribute to new knowledge on neurocognitive decline providing insights into the natural history and impact of cognitive symptoms and deficits, allowing us to define the heterogeneity underlying poor brain health, and for those who report good brain health at baseline, shedding light on the incidence of cognitive deficits in this aging population. This study will also allow the validation of a brief, computerized approach to measuring cognitive ability against the current reference standard, resulting in a cognitive assessment tool practicable for routine clinical monitoring of brain health. Finally, this cohort will serve as a sampling frame for intervention and mechanism-based studies that will be addressed in separate protocols.
Study Objectives
Primary Objective
The primary objective is to estimate the extent to which HIV-related clinical factors and patient-centered outcomes relevant to brain health and its consequences inter-relate and evolve over time using a brief cognitive ability measure (B-CAM).
Secondary Objectives
- (i) To contribute evidence for the validity of a brief brain health assessment approach combining both patient-reported and measured cognitive deficits;
- (ii) To estimate the accuracy of a brief cognitive ability measure (B-CAM) against standard neuropsychological testing;
- (iii) To contribute evidence for the feasibility, effectiveness potential, and acceptability of promising interventions for optimizing brain health;
- (iv) To explore the mechanisms underpinning longitudinal change in brain health.