Haart impact on prevalence of chronic otitis media in Brazilian HIV-infected children

The advent of new antiretroviral drugs such as protease inhibitors has generated sensible changes in morbity and mortality in HIV-infected patients. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the impact of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) on the prevalence of chronic otitis media in HIV-infected pediatric population. METHODS: We analyzed medical charts of 471 children aged zero to 12 years and 11 months with HIV infection from an Ambulatory of ENT and AIDS. Children were divided according to the age: 0 to 5 years and 11 months and 6 to 12 years and 11 months and classified as having chronic otitis media based on history, physical examination, audiologic and tympanometric data. Prevalence of chronic otitis media, as well as CD4+ lymphocyte count were compared between groups in use of HAART and the group without HAART. RESULTS: Out of 459 children, 65 (14.2%) had chronic otitis media. We observed that in children aged 0 to 5 years and 11 months who were taking HAART there was significant lower prevalence of chronic otitis media (p = 0.02). The use of HAART was associated to higher mean CD4+ lymphocyte count (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The use of HAART was associated to reduction in prevalence of chronic otitis media in HIV infected children, probably due to increase in mean CD4+ lymphocyte count.