Malnutrition: Metabolic changes in children, comparisons with adults

Abstract

Nutritional problems of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected children are common, pervasive, and often frustrating to treat. Because of the strong link between immunity and nutrition, that will be outlined here, clinicians caring for HIV-infected children need to attend to nutritional deficits by trying to help children achieve normal growth. Scientific studies are emerging on the importance of nutrition in both predicting and improving clinical outcomes, such as hospitalization rates and survival. Current background information on pediatric HIV infection and the associations between nutrition and HIV will be provided in this presentation. As well, the growth patterns of HIV-infected children, pathogenesis of nutritional disorders, and current diagnostic and therapeutic interventions will be presented. It is hoped that this presentation will provide both practical advice to clinicians caring for HIV-infected children, as well as serving as a basis to stimulate much needed scientific research in this area.