growth and neurodevelopmental status in hiv infected children

Background: hiv infected children are at risk of growth and developmental disorders.objectives: we assessed growth and neurodevelopment outcomes in 0 - 5 years old hiv infected children.methods: a cohort study was carried out in a referral hiv clinic. twenty eight hiv infected children and 47 healthy children aged0 - 5 years were compared with regard to growth and neurodevelopmental status within two consecutive 6 months. during thisperiod, some parent based interventions were achieved and antiretroviral treatment was optimized in case of necessity.results: among the growth parameters measured, the only significant difference between case and control groups at the beginningof the study was the head circumference percentile (p = 007) and for the developmental variables, abnormality in speech andlanguage ability were more common in case group than in control group (p = 0.04). the difference between controlled and uncontrolledhiv patients at enrollment was marginally significant in gross motor function (p = 0.059) and a significant difference wasseen in social ability (p = 0.01). the score changes among parameters before and after intervention between case and control groupswere significant in language ability (p = 0.01), fine motor (p = 0.001) and social ability (p = 0.02). the score changes among parametersbefore and after intervention were also significant in head circumference percentile (p = 0.02) between the two groups, and forweight percentile (p = 0.04) and length percentile (p = 0.04) between well and poorly hiv controlled patients.conclusions: the growth and developmental disorders could be preventable with antiretroviral treatment andsomesimple parentbased interventions.