Epidemiology, clinical features, and prognostic factors of paediatric HIV infection. Italian Multicentre Study.
486 children born to HIV-positive mothers, 57 children infected by blood products, and 1 child for whom the personal history was not available were studied. Perinatal infection had a more varied clinical picture and a worse outcome compared with infection acquired later in childhood. Severe secondary infections, neurological disorders, and hepatitis (but not lymphoid interstitial pneumonia) were linked to a high mortality rate in perinatally infected children, in whom an early onset of symptoms was also a bad prognostic factor. Perinatal HIV infection occurred in 32.6% of children born to seropositive mothers, with a higher transmission rate in children born by vaginal delivery and then breast-fed. Preterm delivery and low birthweight seemed to be related to drug abuse during pregnancy, not to intrauterine HIV infection. Girls had a higher rate of perinatal infection and, of those infected, had an increased mortality.
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000151:congenital / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000635:transmission; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000150:complications / Q000151:congenital / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious; D011379:Prognosis; D012042:Registries; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D065227:Transfusion Reaction