Results to date in WITS also demonstrate a trend towards decreased arm and thigh muscle masses in infected versus uninfected children, with no evidence that this is changing in the era of HAART [30]. There are several limitations to this study. It is likely that the HIV-infected children in our study differed from the overall US population represented in the NHANES data in ways for which we could not adjust; differences between the WITS uninfected children and the NHANES

population in several anthropometric measures support this speculation. Furthermore, BIA measures were only available in children >8 years of age in NHANES, limiting Barasertib order the utility of BIA in this comparison. NHANES itself consists of cross-sectional data which are not ideal for comparison with data from subjects followed longitudinally. The HIV-exposed, uninfected cohort in WITS is likely to be more similar to our study population than the overall population in NHANES, but the case–control method did not allow generation of z-scores; there were also few matches

selleckchem for the older children. Results of the two comparisons are discrepant in some cases; it is likely that some of these differences are attributable to the different ages represented, as age was significantly associated with multiple measures at both baseline and over the 48 weeks. DNA ligase Other differences may be the result of fewer available matched children in the WITS cohort, resulting in less power to detect changes in case–control differences over time that may be clinically significant. The subjects in our study also began diverse ART regimens, limiting the power to detect changes that may be associated with specific ART class(es). Although

we did not find an association with specific ART classes, all children were on treatment, so it is not possible to sort out the contribution that treatment per se may have to growth and body composition changes. The lack of associations at entry with PI therapy compared with ART or PI naivety suggests that there may not be substantive effects of ART per se on growth or body composition. There were also many comparisons such that some findings of borderline significance may have occurred by chance. Finally, we did not have a comparison group of HIV-infected children who were not beginning or changing therapy, so clearly the associations noted may be different in children on long-term therapy.