Trauma symptomatology among people with HIV scales with altered theta-gamma dynamics underlying executive dysfunction

Poster Session A - Saturday, April 13, 2024, 2:30 – 4:30 pm EDT, Sheraton Hall ABC

Lauren K. Webert¹ (lauren.webert@boystown.org), Mikki Schantell¹, Katherine K. Landler¹, Jake J. Son¹, Lucy K. Horne¹, Grant M. Garrison¹, Hannah J. Okelberry¹, Jason A. John¹, Anna T. Coutant¹, Ryan Glesinger¹, Kellen M. McDonald¹, Christine M. Embury¹, Tony W. Wilson¹; ¹Boys Town National Research Hospital

Despite effective antiretroviral therapy, cognitive impairment remains prevalent among people with HIV (PWH), and decrements in executive function are particularly prominent. Furthermore, PWH experience more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and suffer from elevated trauma symptomatology compared to seronegative controls, which have also been associated with executive dysfunction. However, the relative contributions of HIV-infection and increased trauma exposure to executive dysfunction among PWH remains unclear. Herein, participants (n=141) between the ages of 29-76 years performed an executive function task during magnetoencephalography (MEG) and completed the ACE questionnaire and PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) to assess trauma symptomatology. Our analyses focused on the relationship between trauma symptomatology and oscillatory theta (4-8 Hz) and gamma (74-98 Hz) activity among PWH (n=68) and seronegative controls (n=73). Our results indicated that PWH had significantly elevated ACEs and trauma symptomatology relative to controls. Across all participants, trauma symptomatology was associated with stronger theta and weaker gamma oscillations in the left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). We then computed theta-gamma coupling in the left ACC and behavioral inverse efficiency scores. We found a significant interaction effect in which stronger theta-gamma coupling in the left ACC scaled with poorer inverse efficiency in PWH, while this relationship was not present among controls (F=6.82, p=0.010). These findings support the concept of interactions between trauma symptomatology and HIV-status on the neural oscillatory dynamics serving executive function. Future work should elucidate the long-term trajectory and impact of ACEs and trauma on the neural oscillatory dynamics serving this and other cognitive processes in PWH.

Topic Area: EXECUTIVE PROCESSES: Other