Article Sidebar
Article Details
While African Health Sciences has been freely accessible online there have been questions on whether it is Open Access or not. We wish to clearly state that indeed African Health Sciences is Open Access. There are key issues regarding Open Access needing clarification for avoidance of doubt:
- 1. Henceforth, papers in African Health Sciences will be published under the CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution License) 4.0 International. See details on https://creativecomons.org/)
- 2. The copyright owners or the authors grant the 3rd party (perpetually and in advance) the right to disseminate, reproduce, or use the research papers in part or in full, format/medium as long as:
- No substantive errors are introduced in the process
- Attribution of authorship and correct citation details are given
- The referencing details are not changed.
Should the papers be reproduced in part, this must be clearly stated.
- 3. The papers will be freely and universally accessible online in an easily readable format such as XML in at least one widely recognized open access repository such as PUBMED CENTRAL.
B. ABRIDGED LICENCE AGREEMENT BETWEEN AUTHORS AND African Health Sciences
I submitted my manuscript to African Health Sciences and would like to affirm that:
1.0 I am authorized by my co-authors to enter into these arrangements.
2.0 I guarantee, on behalf of self and co-authors:
- That the paper is original, and has not been published in any other peer-reviewed journal; nor is it under consideration by other journal (s). It does not infringe existing copyright or any other person’s rights
- That we are/I am the sole author(s) of the paper and with authority to enter into this agreement. My granting rights to African Health Sciences is not in breach of any other obligation
- That the paper contains nothing unlawful, or libelous. Nor anything that would constitute a breach of contract, confidence or commitment given to secrecy, if published
- That I/we have taken care to ensure the integrity of the article.
3.0 I and all co-authors, agree that the paper, if accepted for publication, shall be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0. (see https://creativecommons.org/)
Main Article Content
ECG abnormalities among HIV infected children placed on ART at Enugu, South East of Nigeria
Abstract
Background: Cardiovascular abnormalities are not much reported among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected children especially in Africa where there is high HIV disease. In addition, the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in such children may have a protective effect on the cardiovascular system.
Methods: Cross-sectional study of randomly selected eighty HIV infected and 80 aged matched non- HIV-infected chil- dren were used. HIV-infected children were on HAART for more than 5years and had steadily received the treatment for 6 months prior to the time of the tests. Heights and weights were measured and body mass index calculated. Cardiac indi- ces evaluated were heart rate (HR), PR interval, QRS duration, QT/QTC Interval, P/QRS/T Axis, RV5/SV1 voltage and RV5+SV1 voltage.
Results: The average heart rate was significantly higher among HIV infected children on HAART than their non-infected counterparts (P= 0.019). At 0.05 significance level, their PR interval was significantly higher than those in the control group (P=0.050). The average QRS duration result also showed a significant difference between that of test and control subjects (P = 0.022)
Conclusion: The HAART usage possibly improved the cardiovascular functioning in the infected children but the protective effects diminish with increase age and longer exposure.
Keywords: HIV; cardiovascular; children; HAART.
