AEGiS-15IAC: Malnutrition in HIV infected Cambodian children.

15th International AIDS Conference

Bangkok, Thailand - July 11-16, 2004

Malnutrition in HIV infected Cambodian children.

Int Conf AIDS 2004 Jul 11-16; 15:(abstract no. B10504)

Seitaboth S, Brady MF, Lurie M, Akao K, Hendricks K, Pugatch D
Angkor Hospital for Children, Siem Reap, Cambodia

BACKGROUND: Both malnutrition and HIV are prevalent in Cambodia. To date, the relationship between malnutrition and HIV disease stage has not been well described in Cambodian children, but malnutrition is likely to impact on the course of HIV infection. We examined the relationship between malnutrition, assessed by anthropometric measures, and disease stage, assessed by CD4%, in a cohort of HIV infected antiretroviral naïve children in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

METHODS: A cross-sectional retrospective review was performed among HIV infected children currently enrolled in the HIV clinic at a free pediatric hospital. Clinical data included demographic information, CD4% and malnutrition as described by Weight for Height Z-scores (WHZ). Patients were included if their record included a recent CD4 percentage, height and weight.

RESULTS: 50 patients were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 54.5 months with a range of 14 months to 10 years. There were 29 males and 21 females; there was no significant difference in WHZ or CD4% based on sex. The mean CD4% was 10.7±8.6 and 70% of patients had CD4%<15. The mean WHZ was -1.6±1.0 and 28% of patients had WHZ<-2. Using linear regression analysis there was a positive, although not statistically significant, correlation between CD4% and WHZ.

CONCLUSIONS: Untreated HIV infected children at the hospital, as a group, tend to be both severely immune suppressed and malnourished. There is a trend towards a correlation between the degree of malnutrition and the degree of immune suppression, and a larger sample size would help to ascertain whether this is trend is significant. Given the high prevalence of malnutrition among HIV infected children nutritional interventions need to be developed for them.

Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, HIV Seropositivity, HIV Infections, Malnutrition, Prevalence, Body Height, Nutritional Status, Body Weight, Protein-Energy Malnutrition, Cambodia, Child, Humans, Female, Male

040711
B10504