Behavioral adaptation to human immunodeficiency virus-seropositive status in children and adolescents with hemophilia
S. R. Hooper, J. K. Whitt, M. Tennison, M. Burchinal, S. Gold and C. Hall
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27599-7255.
OBJECTIVE--To examine the behavioral adaptation to human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV)-seropositive status, as defined by parental report, in children
and adolescents with hemophilia. RESEARCH DESIGN--A clinical descriptive
study of two groups of patients as part of a longitudinal design.
SETTING--A university-based comprehensive hemophilia center and department
of neurology acquired immunodeficiency syndrome dementia center.
PATIENTS--Forty-six male children with hemophilia divided into two groups
based on HIV-seropositive (n = 18) or -seronegative (n = 28) status. None
of the patients were symptomatic for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
SELECTION PROCEDURES--All pediatric patients with documented factor VII or
IX deficiency aged between 4 and 19 years at study onset and their families
were eligible to participate. All subjects were recruited without regard to
human immunodeficiency virus status. INTERVENTIONS--None. MEASUREMENTS AND
RESULTS--Profiles of behavioral adjustment were obtained from parents'
reports on the Child Behavior Checklist for the HIV-seropositive and
HIV-seronegative groups. The two groups did not differ on any of the major
indexes of the Child Behavior Checklist, even after adjusting for maternal
education and severity of hemophilia. There also was no difference between
the groups when individual cases were examined for the number of child
behavior checklist scales falling within a clinically significant range.
CONCLUSIONS--The current findings fail to confirm any clear evidence of
behavioral problems in an asymptomatic group of HIV-seropositive children
and adolescents with hemophilia.
