Emotional and behavioral disturbances in school going HIV positive children attending HIV clinic

Publication date: January 2017
Source:Medical Journal Armed Forces India, Volume 73, Issue 1
Author(s): Deepak Joshi, Mithilesh K. Tiwari, Venkatnarayan Kannan, S.S. Dalal, S.S. Mathai
BackgroundTo study the emotional and behavioral disturbances (EBD) in school going HIV positive children attending HIV center in a tertiary care hospital.MethodThis cross-sectional study was conducted on 258 HIV infected children between 6 and 16 years of age, 200 were on Anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and 58 were not on ART. They were evaluated for EBD by using Pictorial Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PPSC) screening tool. A cut-off score of 28 was taken as significant for detecting early EBD.ResultsThe prevalence of EBD in our study is 11.2%. Demographic and disease related profile were assessed for correlation with EBD. Type of family (p=0.023), school attendance (p=0.034), school performance (p=0.045), and CD4 count (p=0.015) were detected to have significant association with early manifestation of EBD in the study group.ConclusionsHIV positive children who have low CD4 count, poor school attendance, and performance are at a higher risk of being detected with EBD. Screening with PPSC to identify EBD in HIV positive children attending HIV clinic in a hospital setting could help in early diagnosis and management.



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