LAUSR

Social processing difficulties and higher oxytocin (OT) levels were more common in people living with HIV (PWH) exposed to early life trauma (ELT) compared with ELT-unexposed PWH. An OT/C-reactive protein factor moderated ELT-performance associations, whereas a myeloid migration factor was associated with reduced social processing accuracy regardless of ELT. Interventions that target OT/C-reactive protein and myeloid migration factors may alter social processing for PWH including ELT-exposed individuals. ABSTRACT Objective Early life trauma (ELT) and HIV are associated with social processing deficits. In people with HIV (PWH), we examined whether facial emotion identification accuracy differs by ELT and whether neuroendocrine factors including cortisol, oxytocin (OT), and arginine vasopressin, and/or immune system measures play a role in the ELT-performance association. Methods We used secondary data from the placebo condition of a pharmacologic challenge study in PWH. Presence of ELT was measured with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (at least moderate experiences of sexual, physical, and/or emotional abuse). Social processing was measured with the Facial Emotion Perception Test (FEPT). Salivary immune system measures and cortisol were sampled across a 5-hour study session. Blood was collected at study session start (12 pm) to measure OT and arginine vasopressin. We examined the association of ELT with FEPT and five biological moderators (from principal components analysis of 12 biomarkers) of ELT-FEPT associations. Results Of 58 PWH (42 men; mean [standard deviation] age = 33.7 [8.9] years), 50% endorsed ELT. ELT-exposed PWH demonstrated lower identification accuracy across all emotional expressions (unstandardized β [B] = 0.13; standard error [SE] = 0.05; p = .021, d = 0.63) and had higher OT levels compared with ELT-unexposed PWH (t(1,56) = 2.12, p = .039; d = 0.57). For total accuracy, an OT/C-reactive protein factor moderated the ELT-FEPT association (B = 0.14; SE = 0.05; p = .014); accuracy was lower in ELT-exposed PWH versus ELT-unexposed PWH when the factor was low but not when high. Similar results were obtained for fearful, neutral, and happy faces (p values < .05). Regardless of ELT, a myeloid migration (MCP-1/MMP-9) factor was associated with reduced accuracy (p values < .05). Conclusions Our pilot findings suggest that ELT may alter social processing in PWH, and OT and C-reactive protein may be a target for improving social processing in ELT-exposed PWH, and myeloid migration markers may be a target in PWH more generally.