This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. This study is a multicenter, observational study (meaning that information will be collected but there is no treatment as part of this study). It is designed to better understand the impact of HIV on the development of psychiatric symptoms in a group of perinatally HIV-infected children and adolescents, when compared to a group of children and adolescents of the same age, race and gender. By looking at groups of children and adolescents, the study will generate information that may help us understand the effects of HIV infection on the mental health of children and adolescents. The study will compare uninfected children and adolescents with HIV-infected children and adolescents to better understand the development or course psychiatric symptoms in this important, population. This information is particularly important because of the number of HIV-infected children and adolescents worldwide. Previous studies which have examined risk factors for disruptive behavior disorders (i.e., ADHD, ODD, Conduct Disorder [CD]) and anxiety/depressive disorders have identified risk factors common to both groups of disorders. In addition to the standard risks for childhood mental disorders, studies evaluating the many risk factors associated with HIV infection in children and adolescents must also account for life-long presence of a neurotropic virus (a virus which has an affinity for or localizes in nerve tissue), medications that have significant toxicities (many of which are being learned about for the first time), familial psychiatric issues, and disordered living conditions. It is anticipated that these variables, in combination, may act together to explain the severity of mental health disorders found in these patients. In this investigation, a series of questionnaires (i.e. Child Behavior Checklist and the Columbia Impairment Scale) will be administered to both HIV-infected and affected (living in a family where one or more family members have HIV) children and adolescents. Four hundred HIV-infected and 400 HIV-affected children and adolescents will take part.
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