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AIDS in childhood: cardiac involvement with and without triple combination antiretroviral therapy

Maria do Carmo Soares Alves Cunha1, Aristarco Gonçalves de Siqueira Filho, Silvia Reis dos Santos

  • 1Instituto de Puericultura e Pediatria Martagão Gesteira, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Brazil. mccunha@rionet.com.br

Arquivos Brasileiros De Cardiologia
|March 5, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Cardiac abnormalities are common in children with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Echocardiograms revealed left ventricular dysfunction as the most frequent issue, particularly in untreated patients.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Cardiology
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Medical Imaging

Background:

  • Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) can impact cardiac function in children.
  • Understanding cardiac abnormalities in pediatric AIDS is crucial for management.
  • Echocardiography is a key tool for assessing cardiac health in this population.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the prevalence of cardiac abnormalities via echocardiogram in children with AIDS.
  • To evaluate cardiac findings at approximately 18 months post-AIDS diagnosis.
  • To compare cardiac health between treated and untreated pediatric AIDS patients.

Main Methods:

  • A cross-sectional study of 93 children with confirmed vertically transmitted AIDS.
  • Echocardiograms were performed for cardiologic evaluation.
  • Patients were categorized into untreated (G1) and combination antiretroviral therapy (G2) groups.

Main Results:

  • 43% of children with AIDS exhibited cardiac involvement.
  • Left ventricular dysfunction was more prevalent in untreated children (39.10%) compared to treated (10.60%).
  • A significant association was found between treatment status and left ventricular dysfunction, as well as malnutrition.

Conclusions:

  • Cardiac involvement is frequent in children diagnosed with AIDS.
  • Left ventricular dysfunction is the most common echocardiographic abnormality found.
  • Combination antiretroviral therapy showed a statistically significant difference in reducing left ventricular dysfunction and malnutrition.
Abstract

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