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. 2016 Oct 12;9(1):463.
doi: 10.1186/s13104-016-2264-3.

The effects of prenatal HIV exposure on language functioning in Kenyan children: establishing an evaluative framework

K J Alcock  1 , Amina Abubakar  2   3   4 , Charles R Newton  3   5 , Penny Holding  3   6
Affiliations

The effects of prenatal HIV exposure on language functioning in Kenyan children: establishing an evaluative framework

K J Alcock et al. BMC Res Notes. .

Abstract

Background: HIV infection has been associated with impaired language development in prenatally exposed children. Although most of the burden of HIV occurs in sub-Saharan Africa, there have not been any comprehensive studies of HIV exposure on multiple aspects of language development using instruments appropriate for the population.

Methods: We compared language development in children exposed to HIV in utero to community controls (N = 262, 8-30 months) in rural Kenya, using locally adapted and validated communicative development inventories.

Results: The mean score of the younger HIV-exposed uninfected infants (8-15 months) was not significantly below that of the controls; however older HIV-exposed uninfected children had significantly poorer language scores, with HIV positive children scoring more poorly than community controls, on several measures.

Conclusions: Our preliminary data indicates that HIV infection is associated with impaired early language development, and that the methodology developed would be responsive to a more detailed investigation of the variability in outcome amongst children exposed to HIV, irrespective of their infection status.

Keywords: Africa; Children; HIV; Language.

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