Prevalence of oral lesions in HIV infected children on HAART and its correlation to disease progression at Arthur Davison children’s hospital in Ndola, Zambia

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of oral lesions in HIV infected children on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and association of HIV progression with oral lesions at Arthur Davison children’s hospital in Ndola, Zambia. Participants and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 212 children aged 0-15 years. Participants were selected from patients coming to access HAART on any particular day at Arthur Davison Children’s’ Hospital Ndola, Zambia between November and December 2014 following informed consent. Participants needed to have been on HAART for at least one month. Oral lesions were detected and diagnosed based on clinical presentation. Data was captured using Epi Data version 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 for windows. The Fisher’s exact test and the Yates’ corrected Chi-squared test were used to compare proportions at the 5% patient significance level. Results: A total of 212 patients were recruited into the study. The majority (47.6%) was in the age group of 10-15 years. More than half (57.2%) of the patients were females. Of the 212 participants, 33 (15.6%) had oral lesions. Angular cheilitis was the most common lesion (8.1%) children, while Herpes simplex was the least common (0.5%). Out of 212 clients, 202 (95.3%) were on first line drugs (Zidovudine, Lamivudine & Niverapine, or Abacavir, Lamivudine & Niverapine). There was no statistically significant association between age and drug regimen (p=0.751). No significant association was observed between CD4 count and lesions (p=0.405). Conclusion: A low prevalence of oral lesions was observed among children on HAART. Adherence and early initiation on HAART is encouraged in order to maintain the low prevalence of lesions in this population.