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Published on: September 6, 2019
Thymic size in uninfected infants born to HIV-positive mothers and fed with pasteurized human milk
D Jeppesen1, H Hasselbalch, A K Ersbøll
1Department of Paediatrics, Copenhagen University Hvidovre Hospital, Hvidovre, Denmark. d.jeppesen@dadlnet.dk
Aim:
To examine the size of the thymus in uninfected infants born to HIV-positive mothers and to study the effects of feeding by human donor milk on the size of the thymus in these infants.
Methods:
The absolute and relative thymic size was assessed by sonography as thymic index (Ti), and the Ti/weight-ratio (Ti/w) at birth and at 4 mo of age in 12 healthy uninfected infants born to HlV-infected mothers. All infants were exclusively fed pasteurized donor milk. The results were compared with those obtained from a previous cohort of exclusively breastfed, partially breastfed and exclusively formula-fed infants.
Results:
At birth the Ti was reduced in infants born to HIV-infected mothers in comparison with that in control infants but this difference disappeared when their birthweights were taken into consideration (Ti/w-ratio). At 4 mo of age the geometric mean Ti of infants fed donor milk was 23.8 and the mean Ti/w-ratio was 4.2. Compared with those of exclusively breastfed infants, the Ti and Ti/w-ratio of infants fed donor milk were significantly reduced (p < 0.01). The Ti/w-ratio increased in donor-milk-fed infants compared with that in the formula-fed infants (p = 0.02).
Conclusion:
At birth the size of the thymus was smaller in uninfected infants of HIV-positive mothers compared with infants of HIV-negative mothers but when birthweight was taken into account this difference disappeared. Feeding by human donor milk seemed to result in an increased size of the thymus at 4 mo of age compared with thymic size in infants that were exclusively formula fed.
