Objective: Here we evaluated the hypothesis that resting state electroencephalographic (EEG) cortical sources correlated with cognitive functions and discriminated asymptomatic treatment-naïve HIV subjects (no AIDS).

Methods: EEG, clinical, and neuropsychological data were collected in 103 treatment-naïve HIV subjects (88 males; mean age 39.8 years ± 1.1 standard error of the mean, SE). An age-matched group of 70 cognitively normal and HIV-negative (Healthy; 56 males; 39.0 years ± 2.0 SE) subjects, selected from a local university archive, was used for control purposes. LORETA freeware was used for EEG source estimation in fronto-central, temporal, and parieto-occipital regions of interest.

Results: Widespread sources of delta (<4 Hz) and alpha (8-12 Hz) rhythms were abnormal in the treatment-naïve HIV group. Fronto-central delta source activity showed a slight but significant (p < 0.05, corrected) negative correlation with verbal and semantic test scores. So did parieto-occipital delta/alpha source ratio with memory and composite cognitive scores. These sources allowed a moderate classification accuracy between HIV and control individuals (area under the ROC curves of 70-75%).

Conclusions: Regional EEG abnormalities in quiet wakefulness characterized treatment-naïve HIV subjects at the individual level.

Significance: This EEG approach may contribute to the management of treatment-naïve HIV subjects at risk of cognitive deficits.