Epidemiologic principles in studies of infectious disease outcomes: Pediatric HIV as a model

Abstract

Epidemiologic principles have been employed in the investigation of AIDS since the early 1980s. Although such principles have demonstrated the difficulties in reporting the ever-changing rates of incidence and prevalence, in addition to distributions of children with HIV, they have also established specific pieces of a multifaceted puzzle. Professional interested in examining only a piece of the puzzle, such as a particular communication disorder, often are unable to see how it fits into the complete puzzle. This article presents several epidemiologic findings of pediatric HIV, including population distributions, a summary of modes of transmission, occurrence of opportunistic infections, and manifestations of the disease in child populations. It also discusses HIV-related speech, language, swallowing, and voice disorders, examining the complexities of quantification of risk for each piece within the pediatric HIV puzzle. The purpose is to broaden the perspective of professionals concerned with how these disorders fit within the overall puzzle of immunocompromised populations of children.