title: Body mass index development during the first 6 months of life in infants born to human immunodeficiency virus-seropositive mothers.
abstract: The development of body mass index (BMI) was measured during the first 6 months of life in three groups of infants [human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) -uninfected, n = 92; later symptomatic HIV-infected, n = 18; early symptomatic HIV-infected, n = 9] born to HIV-positive mothers and compared with a reference group (n = 65) born to healthy mothers. A trend towards lower values in the two groups of HIV-infected infants was already evident at birth. Among the four groups, HIV-uninfected infants showed the highest BMI values while the early-infected infants showed the lowest BMI values at all measurements. The later-infected group had a value close to the reference at 1 month, and then increased at slower rates than the uninfected and the reference groups. Infants born to HIV-positive mothers may have higher energy and nutrient requirements after birth, either to sustain an increased BMI development (when uninfected) or to meet catabolic mechanisms (when infected).
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, San Paolo Hospital, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Agostoni
authors.forename: G V
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Zuccotti
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Giannì
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: D'Auria
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giovannini
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Riva
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006128:Growth; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000151:congenital* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric