RELATION BETWEEN STAGE OF DISEASE AND NEUROBEHAVIORAL MEASURES IN CHILDREN WITH SYMPTOMATIC HIV DISEASE

Objective: To study the relationships between stage of HIV disease, re flected by CD4+ lymphocyte percentages and p24 antigen levels, and HIV -associated central nervous system (CNS) abnormalities, measured by co mputed tomography (CT) brain-scan ratings and neurobehavioral tests. D esign: Consecutive case series. Setting: Government medical research c enter. Patients: Eighty-six previously untreated children with symptom atic HIV-1 disease. Results: CD4% measures correlated significantly wi th overall CT brain-scan severity ratings (r = -0.45; P < 0.001) as we ll as with its component parts (cortical atrophy, white matter abnorma lities, and intracerebral calcifications); they were of comparable mag nitude for vertically and transfusion-infected children. CD4% measures were also associated with the general level of cognitive function (r = 0.32; P < 0.005). Furthermore, patients with detectable serum p24 an tigen levels (n = 39) had CT brain scans that were more abnormal than patients with undetectable p24 levels (n = 20; CT abnormality ratings of 21.3 versus 35.9; P < 0.02); similar differences were found for the cortical atrophy and calcification ratings. p24 levels also correlate d with the overall CT brain-scan severity rating (r = 0.34; P < 0.01). Conclusions: Degree of CT brain-scan abnormality and level of cogniti ve dysfunction were significantly associated with the stage of HIV-1 d isease, as reflected by either CD4 leukocyte measures or elevations of p24 antigen. The relation between the CT brain-scan lesions and marke rs of HIV disease (both CD4 and p24) suggest that these CNS abnormalit ies are most likely associated with HIV-1 infection, and further suppo rt the hypothesis that the interaction between systemic disease progre ssion and CNS manifestations is continuous rather than discrete.