Department of Paediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria.
J Trop Pediatr. 2012 Feb;58(1):3-11. doi: 10.1093/tropej/fmr009. Epub 2011 Feb 3.
Cardiac dysfunction is rarely diagnosed in HIV-infected children in our setting and standard care does not include baseline and follow-up echocardiography. We aimed to determine the prevalence, pattern and predictors of HIV-related cardiac dysfunction.
Pre-diagnosed HIV-infected children aged 18 months to 12 years from a tertiary teaching hospital in Lagos, South-West Nigeria were enrolled in a comparative, observational cross-sectional study; matched with apparently healthy controls of the same age group, were recruited sequentially between May 2004 and 2007. Proportions of pre-defined cardiac abnormalities such as heart failure diagnosed by clinical examination and dilated cardiomyopathy and ventricular dysfunction by echocardiography were determined.
Prevalence of cardiac abnormalities in HIV-infected children was 75.9%. Abnormalities included heart failure, dilated cardiomyopathy (33.7%), decreased LVSF of ≤ 25% in 33.7%, increased left ventricular mass (20.5%) and pericardial effusion (14.5%).
Structural and functional abnormalities are prevalent in HIV-infected African children and therefore justify inclusion of routine echocardiography in their standard care.
在我们的环境中，很少诊断出 HIV 感染儿童的心脏功能障碍，且标准护理不包括基线和随访超声心动图。我们旨在确定与 HIV 相关的心脏功能障碍的患病率、模式和预测因素。
2004 年 5 月至 2007 年期间，我们在尼日利亚西南部拉各斯的一家三级教学医院招募了预先诊断出的年龄在 18 个月至 12 岁的 HIV 感染儿童，他们参与了一项比较性、观察性的横断面研究；并与年龄组相同的、看似健康的对照组进行了顺序匹配。通过临床检查诊断心力衰竭和扩张型心肌病以及超声心动图诊断心室功能障碍等预定义的心脏异常的比例。
HIV 感染儿童的心脏异常患病率为 75.9%。异常包括心力衰竭、扩张型心肌病（33.7%）、左心室射血分数（LVSF）降低至≤25%（33.7%）、左心室质量增加（20.5%）和心包积液（14.5%）。
结构性和功能性异常在感染 HIV 的非洲儿童中很常见，因此有理由将常规超声心动图纳入其标准护理中。
