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Motor performance changes in children testing positive for HIV over 2 years
1Rehabilitation Medicine Department, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-1604, USA.
Insights
Children with HIV show impaired gross motor skills compared to typically developing peers, with fine motor skills less affected. This pattern persists over two years, indicating a need for monitoring motor function in pediatric HIV patients.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurology
- Infectious Diseases
- Developmental Pediatrics
Background:
- Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection can impact neurological development in children.
- Motor performance deficits may be an underrecognized complication of pediatric HIV.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the impact of HIV infection on the motor performance of children and preadolescents.
- To determine if motor performance changes over time with disease duration.
Main Methods:
- The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOTMP) was administered to 34 HIV-positive children and preadolescents.
- Testing occurred at diagnosis and every 6 months for 2 years, with scores compared to typically developing children.
Main Results:
- Gross Motor and Battery Composite scores were consistently 1-2 standard deviations below normal reference means.
- Fine Motor Composite scores were closer to the normal reference population mean (within +.5 standard deviation).
Conclusions:
- HIV-positive children in this sample exhibited more significant gross motor than fine motor impairments.
- This pattern remained consistent over the 2-year study period.
- The BOTMP is a valuable tool for identifying and monitoring motor deficits in pediatric HIV patients.
Objective:
To determine the effect of HIV infection on the motor performance of children and preadolescents, the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOTMP) was administered to see whether performance scores (raw and standard) would change with duration of the disease.
Method:
Thirty-four children and preadolescents were tested on the BOTMP at initial diagnosis of HIV positive and again at 6-month intervals over a 2-year period for a total of five test sessions. The participants' scores on the Gross, Fine, and Battery Composites, as well as eight individual subtests, were compared with those of children who were developing typically.
Results:
Gross Composite and Battery Composite percentile scores were consistently 1 to 2 standard deviations below the means for the normal reference populations over the 2-year period. Fine Composite scores were closer than +.5 standard deviation to the mean for the normal reference population.
Conclusion:
Gross motor function was more impaired than fine motor function in this sample of children and preadolescents who were HIV positive, and this pattern was unchanged after 2 years of infection. The BOTMP can be useful both to identify specific areas of motor deficits and to monitor changes in motor function over time after application of interventions.