Quality of life in symptomatic HIV infected children.

We conducted a case control study to compare the quality of life (QOL) in 40 cases of HIV infected children and 40 demographically matched controls with other chronic ailments at a referral hospital in Northern India. Quality of life among HIV infected children was significantly better in psychosocial (P=0.008), emotional (P=0.001) and school (P=0.039) functioning. Factors including age (P=0.07), gender (P=0.44), socioeconomic status (P=0.99), clinical (P=0.18) and immunological staging (P=-0.91) of HIV infection did not significantly influence QOL scores. Hence, quality of life in HIV infected children of North India was better than those suffering from other childhood chronic illness.