TY - JOUR
T1 - Fatigue in children and adolescents perinatally infected with human immunodeficiency virus
T2 - an observational study
AU - ter Haar, A. M.
AU - der Vlist, M. M. Nap-van
AU - van den Hof, M.
AU - Nijhof, S. L.
AU - van Litsenburg, R. R. L.
AU - Oostrom, K. J.
AU - Pajkrt, D.
N1 - Funding Information: This study was funded by the Dutch Aidsfonds (Grant number 2015009, made available to the last author). The funder had no role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, interpretation of data or in writing the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).
PY - 2021/12/1
Y1 - 2021/12/1
N2 - Background: Fatigue is common among adults living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as well as children with a chronic disease (CCD). Fatigue can have disastrous effects on health status, including health related quality of life (HRQOL). Even so, fatigue is underexplored in children and adolescents perinatally infected with HIV (PHIV+) in the Netherlands. The objective of this observational study is to explore fatigue in PHIV+ and its association with their HRQOL. Methods: We measured HRQOL and fatigue using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ (PedsQL 4.0) and the PedsQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale (MFS). The PedsQL MFS encompasses three subscales: general fatigue, sleep/rest fatigue and cognitive fatigue, and a total fatigue score. We compared outcomes of PHIV+ children and adolescents in the Amsterdam University Medical Centre with three groups: 1) HIV-uninfected controls (HIV-) matched for age, sex, region of birth, socioeconomic status and adoption status, 2) CCD, and 3) the general Dutch population. Within the PHIV+ group we explored associations between fatigue and HRQOL. Results: We enrolled 14 PHIV+ (median age 10.2 years [IQR 9.2–11.4]) and 14 HIV-. Compared to CCD, PHIV+ significantly reported less general fatigue (mean difference 13.0, 95% CI 1.3 to 24.8). PHIV+ did not score significantly different on any of the other PedsQL MFS scales compared to HIV-, CCD or the general Dutch population. PHIV children scored relatively low on the cognitive fatigue scale in comparison to HIV-uninfected matched controls, CCD and the general population, although these differences did not reach significance. Among PHIV+, a lower score on total fatigue, general fatigue and cognitive fatigue was associated with a lower HRQOL score. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that PHIV children and adolescents do not experience more symptoms of fatigue than their healthy peers. However, PHIV children and adolescents may be more likely to experience cognitive fatigue. Fatigue in PHIV also appears to be associated with children’s HRQOL. Further research should confirm these exploratory findings.
AB - Background: Fatigue is common among adults living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as well as children with a chronic disease (CCD). Fatigue can have disastrous effects on health status, including health related quality of life (HRQOL). Even so, fatigue is underexplored in children and adolescents perinatally infected with HIV (PHIV+) in the Netherlands. The objective of this observational study is to explore fatigue in PHIV+ and its association with their HRQOL. Methods: We measured HRQOL and fatigue using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ (PedsQL 4.0) and the PedsQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale (MFS). The PedsQL MFS encompasses three subscales: general fatigue, sleep/rest fatigue and cognitive fatigue, and a total fatigue score. We compared outcomes of PHIV+ children and adolescents in the Amsterdam University Medical Centre with three groups: 1) HIV-uninfected controls (HIV-) matched for age, sex, region of birth, socioeconomic status and adoption status, 2) CCD, and 3) the general Dutch population. Within the PHIV+ group we explored associations between fatigue and HRQOL. Results: We enrolled 14 PHIV+ (median age 10.2 years [IQR 9.2–11.4]) and 14 HIV-. Compared to CCD, PHIV+ significantly reported less general fatigue (mean difference 13.0, 95% CI 1.3 to 24.8). PHIV+ did not score significantly different on any of the other PedsQL MFS scales compared to HIV-, CCD or the general Dutch population. PHIV children scored relatively low on the cognitive fatigue scale in comparison to HIV-uninfected matched controls, CCD and the general population, although these differences did not reach significance. Among PHIV+, a lower score on total fatigue, general fatigue and cognitive fatigue was associated with a lower HRQOL score. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that PHIV children and adolescents do not experience more symptoms of fatigue than their healthy peers. However, PHIV children and adolescents may be more likely to experience cognitive fatigue. Fatigue in PHIV also appears to be associated with children’s HRQOL. Further research should confirm these exploratory findings.
KW - Adolescent
KW - Child
KW - Fatigue
KW - HIV-infection
KW - Health-related quality of life
KW - Pediatric
KW - Perinatal HIV
KW - Quality of life
KW - Vertical HIV
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119482605&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-021-02977-6
DO - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-021-02977-6
M3 - Article
C2 - 34798840
SN - 1471-2431
VL - 21
JO - BMC Pediatrics
JF - BMC Pediatrics
IS - 1
M1 - 519
ER -