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Post‐natal growth among HIV‐exposed children: a cross‐study comparison
Author(s) -
Heidkamp Rebecca,
Stoltzfus Rebecca,
Fitzgerald Daniel,
Pape Jean William
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.216.5
Subject(s) - medicine , anthropometry , breastfeeding , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , tanzania , pediatrics , demography , environmental science , family medicine , environmental planning , sociology
Infants of HIV‐infected mothers are born stunted (low LAZ) but patterns of post‐natal growth are not consistent among HIV‐exposed infants across studies. We compared anthropometric data from predominantly non‐breastfed HIV‐exposed children age 0–23 mo in Port‐au‐Prince, Haiti (2007–09) to published data from predominantly breastfed infants of HIV‐infected mothers in Tanzania (1995–97) and Zambia (2001–06). Based on 3366 observations from 458 HIV‐negative Haitian children, mean LAZ (SD) was −1.31 (1.64) at birth increasing to −0.53 (1.38) at 6 mo then falling steadily to −1.01 (1.31) by 18 mo (WHO 2006 Std). In contrast, breastfed HIV‐negative infants in Dar es Salaam were less stunted at birth but immediately declined in LAZ through 24 mo. Breastfed HIV‐negative infants in Zambia were born at similar LAZ to Haitian infants, gained 0.5 LAZ in the first 2 mo then remained at stable LAZ until 10 mo after which they rapidly declined to mean LAZ < −2.0 by 18 mo. Ponderal (WLZ) growth patterns were also qualitatively different between studies. The observed differences in post‐natal growth are likely to be associated with differences in short and long term nutrition‐related outcomes. The basis for these differences is unknown but likely to stem from both differences in infant feeding and drugs used for HIV prophylaxis. Grant Funding Source : Cornell Einaudi Center, WCMC Center for Global Health