Prognostic factors and survival in children with perinatal HIV-1 infection

Abstract The signs that may arise after perinatal infection with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) have been classified by the Centers for Disease Control, but the clinical usefulness of the classification system and the prognostic importance of each disease pattern have not been established. We sought to address these issues by analysing data from the Italian Register for HIV infection in children. We studied 1887 children born to HIV-1-seropositive mothers. 1045 were identified at birth and the others were registered later (median age 4·8 [range 0·4-72] months). HIV-1-associated signs developed in 433 (81·8%) of 529 seropositive infected children at a median age of 5 (0·03-84) months. These signs appeared significantly earlier in the 102 children who died of HIV-1-related illness than in those who are still alive (median 3 [0·03-55] vs 6 [0·03-84] months; p Lancet 1992; 339: 1249-53.