Page 1 of 11 © Journal of Xiangya Medicine. All rights reserved. J Xiangya Med 2018;3:14 jxym.amegroups.com Introduction Sub-Saharan Africa is home to over 65% of the global paediatric HIV burden (1). As the HIV pandemic matures, more HIV-infected children are surviving into and beyond adolescence because of increasing access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). With this increasing survival, there is increasing reports of chronic diseases involving cardiopulmonary, neurologic, musculoskeletal and metabolic systems (2-4). Cardiovascular complications of HIV are one of the most commonly reported chronic complications of HIV (5-8). HIV-infected children are at increased risk of chronic cardiac conditions owing to cumulative lifelong exposure of the myocardium to both the HIV virus, opportunistic pathogens and ARVs particularly during early developmental stages (7-10). Several mechanisms have been proposed for the deleterious effect of the virus on the heart, including direct viral invasion of the myocardium, chronic inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, autoimmunity, Cardiac size and systolic function of HIV-infected Lagos children accessing routine care: a pilot study Barakat Adeola Animasahun, Ijeoma Nnena Diaku-Akinwumi, Peter Odion Ubuane, Edith Ibitoye Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Lagos State University College of Medicine/Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria Contributions: (I) Conception and design: BA Animasahun; (II) Administrative support: BA Animasahun, E Ibitoye; (III) Provision of study materials or patients: BA Animasahun, IN Diaku-Akinwumi; (IV) Collection and assembly of data: BA Animasahun, PO Ubuane; (V) Data analysis and interpretation: PO Ubuane, BA Animasahun; (VI) Manuscript writing: All authors; (VII) Final approval of manuscript: All authors. Correspondence to: Barakat Adeola Animasahun. Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Lagos State University College of Medicine/Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria. Email: deoladebo@yahoo.com. Background: Previous studies have reported high, though declining, prevalence of HIV-associated cardiac dysfunction globally. However, there is relative paucity of data on the prevalence and pattern of HIV- associated cardiac disorders in Nigerian children. The index study aimed to conduct a pilot evaluation of the frequency and pattern of cardiac dysfunctions in HIV-infected children in a tertiary health facility in Lagos, Nigeria. Methods: Thirty-nine HIV-infected children, with 41 age- and sex-matched controls, were prospectively recruited in a cross-sectional study. Subjects had echocardiography to obtain measures of cardiac dimensions and function. Subjects’ anthropometry, blood pressure and clinical profle were also obtained. Results: HIV-infected children had signifcantly thicker interventricular septal diameter (IVSD) (P=0.0018) and larger left atrial diameter (P=0.003) and aortic root diameter (P=0.023); other parameters (right ventricular diameter, left ventricular diameter, left ventricular posterior wall diameter, left ventricular mass (LVM), ejection fraction, fractional shortening) were similar between both groups. There was no signifcant difference in the prevalence of LVH between those on zidovudine-based regimen compared to those on non- zidovudine-based regimen (P=0.703). Conclusions: The prevalence of subclinical echocardiographic abnormalities was high and was more in those below fve years of age. In a setting of limited resources, this age group may be prioritized for serial monitoring of cardiac abnormalities. Keywords: Cardiac dysfunction; children; Nigeria; HIV/AIDS; echocardiography Received: 31 January 2018; Accepted: 22 March 2018; Published: 20 April 2018. doi: 10.21037/jxym.2018.03.04 View this article at: http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/jxym.2018.03.04 Original Article