Heart abnormalities in children of HIV positive mothers

The mother to child transmission of Human Immuno-deficiency Virus-1 (HIV-1), better known as one of the AIDS viruses, has been found to be associated with heart abnormalities. Irrespective of their HIV status, infants born to women infected with HIV-1 have a significantly worse cardiac function than other infants, suggesting that the uterine environment plays an important role in the development of heart abnormalities after birth. Data from previous short-term studies have suggested that children infected with HIV-1 might have cardiovascular abnormalities. The recent study investigated this hypothesis in a long-term cohort study. In the study researchers measured the heart function of 600 infants born to HIV positive mothers who were followed up every 4–6 months for up to 5 years. Out of these, 93 infants were infected with HIV-1 and 463 infants were uninfected (internal controls). They also included a group of 195 healthy children born to mothers who were not infected with HIV-1 for comparison purposes (external controls). Children infected with HIV-1 had a significantly higher heart rate at all ages than internal controls. At birth, all children had similar low left ventricular (LV) function. At 8 months, LV function was similar in internal and external controls, whereas in children infected with HIV-1, LV function remained significantly lower than in controls for the first 20 months of life. LV mass was similar at birth in all children, but became significantly higher in children with HIV-1 from 4–30 months. It is suggested that continuing follow-up and appropriate treatment strategies should be considered for all children born to women infected with HIV-1.