Evaluation of Pediatric HIV Care Provided in Ryan White CARE Act Title IV Women,Infants,Children,and Youth Clinics

Abstract

This evaluation examines the changing practices and outcomes of pediatric HIV care provided by the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources and Emergency (CARE) Act, Title IV grantees from 1996 through 1998—a period of rapidly changing medical practice within the United States. Using medical chart abstraction, 26 Title IV grantees reported information from the records of 525 HIV positive clients between the ages of 2 and 12. The chart abstractions covered medical care and case management provided to these clients including the number of clinical visits, use of antiretroviral therapy, use of laboratory tests such as CD4⁺ cell count (cells/mm³) and HIV-1 RNA viral load (copies/mL), enrollment in clinical trials, and receipt of opportunistic infection prophylaxis. Information on disease progression and hospitalization as well as client socio-demographic characteristics also is analyzed. Study results indicate that use of HIV combination therapy increased, while the occurrence of opportunistic infections and hospitalizations decreased. The increasing use of new pharmaceuticals during the study period indicates the feasibility of transferring information learned about HIV treatments from clinical trials to clinical practices that treat primarily Medicaid and pediatric populations.