Children with human immunodeficiency virus admitted to a paediatric intensive care unit in the United Kingdom over a 10-year period.
OBJECTIVE
There is little published experience regarding the outcome of children with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection treated on a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU). We describe the outcome of children with HIV infection in our hospital over a 10-year period.


METHODS
We performed a retrospective analysis of all children with HIV infection admitted to our PICU between August 1992 and July 2002. Their ages ranged from 2 months to 11 years (median 4 months). Information collected included demographic data, clinical presentation, investigations, treatment and outcome.


RESULTS
There were 42 children with HIV infection admitted to PICU during the study period, with 66 admission episodes. Sixteen (38%) children died in PICU, and 26 (62%) survived their last PICU admission. Of these, 5 died at a later date (between 1 and 32 months after discharge from PICU) and 21 survived to the time of reporting. The most frequent reason for PICU admission was respiratory failure, due either to Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (45% of admissions) or to other respiratory pathogens (32%). Over 80% of current survivors had good outcomes in terms of growth and development; 6 children had evidence of spastic diplegia.


CONCLUSIONS
Although there is significant mortality among children with HIV infection admitted to PICU, many of them survive their admission, and over 80% of the survivors have good outcomes with the currently available highly active anti-retroviral therapy. This provides evidence that intensive care treatment is appropriate for this group of patients in the United Kingdom.
Cooper
Sian
S
Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, QEQM Wing, St Mary's Hospital, Praed Street, London, W2 1NY, UK.
Lyall
Hermione
H
Walters
Sam
S
Tudor-Williams
Gareth
G
Habibi
Parviz
P
de Munter
Claudine
C
Britto
Joseph
J
Nadel
Simon
S
D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D002423:Cause of Death; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000821:virology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003422:Critical Care / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000821:virology; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy*; D017052:Hospital Mortality / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008131:London / Q000453:epidemiology; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018579:Patient Selection; D011020:Pneumonia, Pneumocystis / Q000821:virology; D012131:Respiratory Insufficiency / Q000821:virology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018805:Sepsis / Q000821:virology; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019562:Viral Load