Quantifying cognition at the bedside: a novel approach combining cognitive symptoms and signs in HIV

Background Up to half of all people with HIV infection have some degree of cognitive impairment. This impairment is typically mild, but nonetheless often disabling. Although early detection of cognitive impairment offers the greatest hope of effective intervention, there are important barriers to this goal in most clinical settings. These include uncertainty about how self-reported cognitive symptoms relate to objective impairments, and the paucity of bedside measurement tools suitable for mild deficits. Clinicians need guidance in interpreting cognitive symptoms in this population, and a brief cognitive measurement tool targeted to mild impairment. We addressed these two problems together here. The objective of this study was to determine the extent to which performance on cognitive tests and self-reported cognitive symptoms form a unidimensional construct.