Objective-Although numerous cardiac abnormalities have been reported in HIV-infected children, precise estimates of the incidence of cardiac disease in these children are not wellknown. The objective of this report is to describe the 2-year cumulative incidence of cardiac abnormalities in HIV-infected children.Methodology: Design-Prospective cohort (Group I) and inception cohort (Group II) study design.Setting-A volunteer sample from 10 university and public hospitals.Participants-Group I consisted of 205 HIV vertically infected children enrolled at a median age of 22 months. This group was comprised of infants and children already known to be HIVinfected at the time of enrollment in the study. Most of the children were African-American or Copyright © 1999 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.Reprint requests to (T.J.S.) Babies and Children's Hospital-2 North, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, 630 W 168th St, New York, NY 10032., tjs1@columbia.edu. a Dr Lipshultz' current affiliation is with the Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Children's Hospital at Strong, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY.This study was presented in part at the Society for Pediatric Research, May 10, 1995; San Diego, CA.
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Author manuscriptPediatrics. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 March 13.
Published in final edited form as:Pediatrics. 1999 August ; 104(2): e14.
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Author ManuscriptHispanic and 89% had symptomatic HIV infection at enrollment. The second group included 611 neonates born to HIV-infected mothers, enrolled during fetal life or before 28 days of age (Group II). In contrast to the older Group I children, all the Group II children were enrolled before their HIV status was ascertained.Interventions-According to the study protocol, children underwent a series of cardiac evaluations including two-dimensional echocardiogram and Doppler studies of cardiac function every 4 to 6 months. They also had a 12-or 15-lead surface electrocardiogram (ECG), 24-hour ambulatory ECG monitoring, and a chest radiograph every 12 months.Outcome Measures-Main outcome measures were the cumulative incidence of an initial episode of left ventricular (LV) dysfunction, cardiac enlargement, and congestive heart failure (CHF). Because cardiac abnormalities tended to cluster in the same patients, we also determined the number of children who had cardiac impairment which we defined as having either left ventricular fractional shortening (LV FS) ≤25% after 6 months of age, CHF, or treatment with cardiac medications.Results: Cardiac Abnormalities-In Group I children (older cohort), the prevalence of decreased LV function (FS ≤25%) was 5.7% and the 2-year cumulative incidence (excluding prevalent cases) was 15.3%. The prevalence of echocardiographic LV enlargement (LV enddiastolic dimension z score >2) at the time of the first echocardiogram was 8.3%. The cumulative incidence of LV enddiastolic enlargement was 11.7% after 2 years.The cumulative incidence of...