Screening for neurocognitive impairment in HIV individuals: the utility of the Montreal cognitive assessment test.

Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) associated neurocognitive disorders have been reported in up to 50% of patients on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) [1]. Even though screening for neurocognitive impairment (NCI) is not routinely done or recommended by current treatment guidelines [2], NCI is associated with HAARTnoncompliance and functional impairment [3], and is currently being linked to cerebrospinal fluid escape (positive CSF HIV RNA PCR in the setting of undetectable serum HIV RNA PCR) [4]. The Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) has been validated and widely used in several countries and languages in non-HIV infected populations to screen for cognitive impairment [5,6]. There is very limited data in HIV positive patients [7], a population that is associated with high rates of co-existing infections and comorbidities including depression and drug abuse. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the utility of the MoCA as a screening tool for NCI in HIV infected individuals.