Opportunistic illnesses in Brazilian children with AIDS: results from two national cohort studies, 1983-2007

This study is based on two representative retrospective multi-center cohorts including a total 1,859 children with AIDS, infected via mother-to-child transmission (MTCT), between 1983-2002. Opportunistic illnesses were described and analyzed over time. The association of demographic, clinical and operational data with the occurrence of opportunistic diseases was assessed.In total, 1,218 (65.5%) had at least one event of an opportunistic disease. Variables significantly associated with occurrence of these events included: region of residence (OR 2.68-11.33, as compared to the Northern region), age < 1 year at diagnosis (OR 2.56, 95% CI 1.81-3.61, p < 0.001), and non-performance of MTCT prevention measures (OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.21-2.07, p < 0.001). Protective factors included year of HIV diagnosis in the HAART era (OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.15-0.76, p = 0.009) and ART use (OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.44-0.77, p < 0.001). In both periods bacterial infections represented the most common opportunistic events (58.6 vs. 34.7%; p < 0.001), followed by Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (21.9 vs. 13.2%; p < 0.001), and bacterial meningitis/sepsis (16.8 vs. 7.4%; p < 0.001).Despite the significant reduction in recent years, opportunistic illnesses are still common in Brazilian children with AIDS in the HAART era, especially bacterial diseases. The data reinforce the need for scaling up prevention of MTCT, early diagnosis of infection, and improvement of comprehensive pediatric care.Over the past 15 years, both morbidity and mortality associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have been systematically reduced in children. Greater knowledge on the clinical course, early diagnosis of HIV infection, adoption of prophylaxis, improved management of opportunistic diseases, and introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART) contributed to this trend [1-4]. New patterns of morbidity associated with chronic diseases have been described recently in HIV-infected individuals [5-7].The adoption of highly a