Growth Faltering and Developmental Delay in HIV-Exposed Uninfected Ugandan Infants: A Prospective Cohort Study

Background: HIV-exposed but uninfected (HEU) infants are at increased risk of impaired early linear growth and cognitive development. We examined associations between prenatal postnatal subsequent neurodevelopment in Ugandan HEU infants, hypothesizing that insults may explain alterations both somatic brain Methods: prospectively followed a cohort from birth to 18 months age, measured length/height, weight, head, arm circumference longitudinally. The Malawi Development Assessment Tool (MDAT, 12 months) the Color Object Association Test (18 were used for developmental assessments. Results: Among 170 prevalence low-birth weight failure thrive was 7.6% 37%, respectively. had MDAT scores similar reference population. mean (SD) score on 5.5 (3.1) compared with 6.9 (5.3) developmentally normal children. Developmental ability age showed strong cross-sectional correlation weight-for-age (ρ = 0.36, P < 0.0001), length/height-for-age 0.41, head circumference-for-age 0.26, 0.0011), mid-upper 0.34, 0.0014). There statistically significant z-score 0.20, 0.010). Failure associated lower [median −0.13 (IQR −0.75 +0.14) versus +0.14 −0.44 +0.63), 0.042]. Conclusion: Growth faltering attainment milestones months. Our findings point simple screening method identifying intervention.