The Impact of HIV on Neurocognitive Performance in a Sample of Zimbabwean Children, Based on an Adapted Neurocognitive Assessment Tool

Due to ongoing effects of the HIV epidemic and increasing poverty, there has been an increasing need for routine neurocognitive assessments in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite increased availability of life-saving antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), there is little attention given to the developmental needs of children with HIV. The specific objectives of this study were to (1) establish if there was a significant difference between the neurocognitive performance of a sample of Zimbabwean children with versus without HIV; (2) determine which neurocognitive skills were most affected in the children with HIV; and (3) assess factors associated with poor neurocognitive performance in the sample including HIV status, gender, age, and type of school. A culturally adapted and validated tool—the Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude (DTLA-4) was used to assess neurocognitive ability in the sample. The DTLA-4 scores of children with HIV were compared to the norms for their ages. Multivariate regression analyses determined independent predictors of children’s neurocognitive performance and the extent to which HIV may impact their performance. Children with HIV displayed significant delay in their neurocognitive development compared to their HIV-negative peers (p < .001). The implications of these findings for policy, practice, intervention and research are discussed.