A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study on the Cognitive Function of Perinatally Acquired Hiv-Infected and Non-Infected Children at Ridge Hospital, Accra.

Abstract

Background It can be estimated that Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) continues to affect the health state of individuals worldwide. This study was a comparative study on the Cognitive function of perinatally acquired HIV-Infected and un-infected at Ridge Hospital. The study provides insight into the cognitive function of children infected with HIV perinatally so that appropriate psychotherapeutic or psycho-educational interventions can be explored to optimize the cognitive functioning and potential of the HIV-infected child. Methods Hundred (100) HIV-infected children were randomly selected as against two hundred (200) HIV-uninfected children aged six to twelve years at the Anti-retroviral clinic and the Out-patient department respectively. All underwent age appropriate cognitive testing by completing a twenty (20) minutes session of the mini mental scale examination. Results A total of 300 children were interviewed. Out of this, 200 were HIV- uinfected and 100 were HIV- infected. The mean age (± SD) of the participants was 8.8 ± 1.74 years. More than half 227 (92.3%) reported to be primary school pupils and 23 (7.7%) reported to be junior high school pupils. For the parents of the children, 44 (14.7%) were reported to have achieved primary school education, 72 (24%) had achieved junior high school education and 184 (61.3%%) achieved tertiary education. The higher rise in educational level of the parent was significantly associated with cognitive outcomes. Majority of the parents of HIV- uninfected participants earned a higher monthly income, although it had an association with the cognitive of the child it was not significantly associated after adjusting for other predictor variables (p= 0.158) . Generally, 10 (10%) of the HIV-infected participants recorded a normal overall cognitive function and 90 (90%) had an abnormal overall cognitive function compared to HIV- uninfected participants who had all 200 (100%) participants having a normal cognitive function and this difference was significant (p<0.001). Except for being an HIV- infected participant, the age of the child and the status of the child were linked to a normal cognitive score.[Adj mean=0.2, 95%CI (0.1,0.39); Adj mean= -9.1, 95%C (-9.8, -8.3)] Conclusion The study revealed that the overall performance for cognitive test was lower for HIV-infected children compared to HIV- uninfected children.