Baseline chest radiographic features among antiretroviral therapy naïve human immuno-deficiency virus positive children in a pediatric care program

Abstract

Background: Pulmonary diseases are commonly seen in children with HIV infection, and their etiology is often unclear. The radiological appearances of these conditions are often non-specific. Conventional radiographs play an important role in the management of chest conditions especially in resource poor settings. Objective: This retrospective study was carried out to determine the chest radiographic pattern in children with HIV infection. Materials and Methods: The baseline chest X-ray of 150 HIV-positive but antiretroviral drug naive children were analyzed between July 2008 and December 2009 at the University College Hospital in Ibadan, south-west Nigeria. All children were screened for tuberculosis (TB) by one or combination of mantoux, acid-fast Bacilli (AFB) sputum, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. The CD4 count was also taken as part of baseline laboratory test. Chi-squared test was used to determine association between the pattern of chest X-ray findings, and sex, age, and CD4 counts. Results: The mean age of the study group was 51.6 months, with children older than 5 years dominating and there was no statistical difference in the sex distribution. A total of 115 children (76.7%) had abnormal chest X-ray, with lymphadenopathy accounting for 45.3% followed by parenchymal lesions with 37.3%, miliary shadows, and cavities accounted for 6.7% and 2.6%, respectively. Cavities were found to be common in patient who tested positive to AFB than AFB-negative patients. Other findings like reticulonodular or diffuse patterns, lymphadenopathy, pleural effusion, or soft tissue swelling were also commoner in the AFB-positive patients. The CD4 count was available for 42% of the patient and there was no significant association between the chest radiographic changes and the CD4 count. Conclusion: Definitive diagnosis of pulmonary disease might be difficult based on chest X-ray alone, however, chest X-ray is a basic radiological test and almost the easiest to perform in both resource poor or rich setting and it is still recommended that routine chest X-ray should remain part of investigation of HIV-positive children to serve as adjunct to other investigations in early detection of TB.