QEEG in Hemophiliacs with HIV Infection

Abstract

Conventional visual analysis of the EEG was performed on 320 hemophiliacs infected with HIV, who spanned the range of the Walter Reed (WR) system for classifying clinical stage of HIV infection, and on 50 HIV seronegative hemophiliac controls. Intermittent or paroxysmal slowing was the conventional EEG abnormality most commonly seen in early stages of HIV infection (stages WR1 and 2), with increased focal epileptiform activity and generalized slowing appearing in patients with the full clinical syndrome of AIDS (WR6). Slowing of the manually measured alpha rhythm was noted in stages WR2 and above. Quantitative EEG (qEEG) was obtained in a subset of 103 male HIV seropositive male hemophiliacs and 35 male HIV seronegative hemophiliac controls. The principal findings were a progressive relative increase in theta power with a tendency towards an anterior topographic distribution, and a progressive decline of spectral power in fast alpha relative to slow alpha with increasing severity of HIV disease. Significant qEEG differences from controls were apparent in WR2 subjects (seropositive with lymphadenopathy and without other constitutional symptoms), and were relatively greater in WR3-6 subjects. These results suggest sensitivity of qEEG to early CNS involvement with HIV infection.

Persistent QEEG Abnormality in Crack Cocaine Users at 6 Months of Drug Abstinence

“…Crack cocaine is a reported risk factor for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), another confound related to drug abuse (Booth et al 1993). Abnormal qEEG has been reported in HIV seropositive patients (Riedel et al 1995), however a reported history of HIV seropositivity, or constitutional signs of HIV was an exclusion criterion in this study. The New York City Department of Health has been conducting a large blind HIV seroprevalance study at Phoenix House since 1993 (Lehner et al 1995) involving 1482 clients to date, and reports an overall seroprevalance of only 7.6%, probably due to the relatively low prevalence of a history of intravenous drug abuse in the Phoenix House population.…”

“…The New York City Department of Health has been conducting a large blind HIV seroprevalance study at Phoenix House since 1993 (Lehner et al 1995) involving 1482 clients to date, and reports an overall seroprevalance of only 7.6%, probably due to the relatively low prevalence of a history of intravenous drug abuse in the Phoenix House population. In any event, the qEEG findings reported here do not resemble those of early HIV infection in which slow frequency EEG power is reportedly increased (Riedel et al 1995).…”