Pregnancy, Pediatrics and HIV Infection:  Guidelines for Your Practice

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Findings on Follow-up of Women Who Participated in
US PACTG 076 AZT vs Control Group

  • No difference in clinical disease progression

  • No difference in AIDS cases or deaths

  • No difference in CD4 counts

Infants who received follow-up care had normal developmental scores. Both exposed and unexposed infants had adequate growth patterns. There was no indication of an increased incidence of cancer among infants who had perinatal exposure to AZT compared with those who did not. By matching New Jersey HIV/AIDS Registry with the cancer registry, no increase in the incidence of tumors among children who were exposed to AZT perinatally has been observed; however, there remains a potential for birth defects. To date, birth defects associated with AZT have not been detected in New Jersey.
Blanche et al revealed that 8 of 3000 children who had been exposed to antiretroviral agents in the perinatal period developed mitochondrial toxicity.3 This report prompted a retrospective review of medical records in the United States, Thailand, Africa, and Europe (except France).4 Of 27,000 medical records, none revealed evidence of mitochondrial toxicity related to perinatal use of AZT. In New Jersey, there has been no evidence of AZT-related mitochondrial toxicity of children.

Findings on Follow-up of Infants Who Participated in
US PACTG 076 AZT vs Control Group

  • Both groups had normal developmental scores

  • Both had adequate growth patterns

  • No increased incidence of cancer among exposed children up to age 5

  • No evidence of mitochondrial toxicity in children who received PACTG 076 regimen in US

 

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