International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Young people who were infected with HIV perinatally are not at greater risk of more severe psychiatric problems if they use specific highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimens.

This is the finding of a study conducted by a team led by Dr Sharon Nachman of Stony Brook University in New York, US.

Analysis of 319 six to 17-year-olds with HIV enrolled in the International Maternal Pediatrics Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Group found neither having a more severe case of the virus nor using specific HAART programmes led to worse psychiatric problems.

However, they did find some links between a lower nadir CD4 percentage and cognitive, social and academic difficulties.

"Our data, in conjunction with findings from other groups, suggest that receptive language, word recognition and educational problems are common in youth[s] with perinatal HIV infection regardless of virologic suppression," the researchers said.

The study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, found a third of patients met the criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder targeted in the investigation.

In 2010, around 34 million people were living with HIV, over 60 per cent of which were based in sub-Saharan Africa, World Health Organization statistics showed.

Posted by Paul Robertson