2.1. Data Analysis SPSS version 11.0 was used for statistical analysis. The prevalence of underweight, stunting, and wasting were calculated for the different age groups and both sexes selleck screening library and the severity classified based on z scores. Differences in the proportions of wasting, stunting, and underweight among boys and girls and at various ages were tested with the chi-square test. Correlation between CD4% and growth indices was obtained using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Receiver Operating Characteristic curves were constructed to assess the relationship between HAZ and WAZ with CD4% and to determine the cutoff which would predict immune deficiency with optimal sensitivity and specificity. 3. Results A total of two hundred and thirty one antiretroviral-na?ve HIV-infected children were enrolled during the period under study.

The average age of the children at presentation was approximately 71 months with 17% under 3 years of age. 42% were boys and majority of the children were in WHO clinical stage 3. The mean CD4 percentage was 17.7 �� 10 (SD)% and the average BMI was 14.2 �� 2 (Table 1). Table 1 Demographic profile of the study population. In this cohort, the prevalence of underweight (WAZ < ?2) was 63%, stunting (HAZ < ?2) 58%, and wasting (WHZ < ?2) 16%, respectively, (Table 2). While a higher proportion of boys were underweight compared to girls, the rates of stunting and wasting were similar. Figure 1 shows the proportion of underweight and stunted children in the various age categories.

Children below 3 years of age and above 10 years of age were at a significantly higher risk of severe underweight when compared with children between the ages 3�C10 years but the proportion of stunted children was similar across all age groups. Severe stunting was found in >40% of children at all age groups. The proportion of children with normal nutritional status (WAZ and HAZ > ?1) tended to decrease with increasing age. Table 3 shows the mean CD4% and CD4 cell count of all children as well as in the subsets with either underweight or stunting, with a clear trend towards lower cell count and percentage among children above the age of 10 years in all three groups. Figure 1 Proportion of children with underweight (WAZ < ?2 SD) and stunting (HAZ < ?2 SD) in different age groups. *P < .05 versus 3�C5 and 5�C10 years age group.

Table 2 Gender wise prevalence of malnutrition among HIV-infected Children. Table 3 Mean CD4% and CD4 cell count of children in different age groups as well as in those with underweight and stunting. We examined the relationship between CD4 percentage and the various growth parameters. CD4% was available for 194 children with 41% of them showing severe immunodeficiency (CD4 <15%) at the time of initial presentation. Of these children with CD4 <15%, 71% were stunted (HAZ < ?2) Batimastat and 76% were underweight (WAZ < ?2).