Growth abnormalities and hypertension status in a pediatric HIV+ population

Linear growth delay and high blood pressure are health issues in pediatric HIV+ patients. To evaluate trends in linear growth (Ht) and blood pressure (BP), a cross‐sectional analysis was conducted in HIV+ pediatric patients from Shands Children's Hospital for each year during 1999–2007; a patient seen continually for 9 years would contribute 9 points for the data set. Linear growth (n=598 data points) and hypertension status (n=434) are reported in the tables below. The percent of patients with an average height below the 5th percentile increased in 2005–2007, indicating a concerning trend of declining linear growth in this population. The percent of patients with normal BP increased in 2005–2007, suggesting an improvement in hypertension status. More patients (30%) with a CD4<25% have height between the 5th and 15th percentiles, compared to patients (16%) with a CD4>25% (p=0.008). Thus, an impaired immune status appears to adversely impact linear growth. A similar analysis done for BP revealed no significant correlation between CD4% and hypertension status.