Ripamonti E, et al. - Via performing a systematic literature review, researchers examined patients prescribed highly active antiretroviral therapy for the presence of impairment of (sub)components of memory function. A cognitive neuropsychological model of memory function was utilized as the theoretical framework; it discriminated between a short-term working memory component and a long-term component of memory, along with their specific (sub)components. HIV infection was consistently identified as impairing the central executive component of working memory. The investigators observed no impairment in the other two (sub)components, namely the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad. As some authors reported an association with HIV infection, whereas others did not, discordant results have been obtained related to verbal and visual episodic memory. For semantic memory deficit in HIV infection, little evidence was gained, while there are some suggestions that HIV infection and inflammation damage the neural substrate of implicit memory. Studies in this area were mainly conducted in small samples and had poor control for covariates. Therefore, the researchers could not draw conclusions regarding the association of memory dysfunction with HIV infection, as methodological issues, such as selection bias and unmeasured confounding, hampered the task.