MULTIVITAMINS FOR HIV-INFECTED LACTATING MOTHERS IMPROVES CHILDREN'S HEALTH

Reuters Health Information 2003. © 2003 Reuters Ltd.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) May 23 - A large African study has shown that multivitamin supplements given to lactating mothers with HIV infection can improve their children's health.

In the May 12th issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, Dr. Wafaie W. Fawzi of Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues report the findings of a randomized trial of 1078 HIV-infected women in Tanzania who were given either vitamin A with beta carotene, a multivitamin containing vitamins B, C and E, or both supplements during pregnancy and lactation.

Children of mothers who took multivitamins had a significantly lower risk of diarrhea during the first two years of life, and significantly higher mean CD4+ cell counts, than children of mothers who did not receive multivitamins, according to the article. On average, the CD4+ count was 151 cells per microliter higher in children of women in the multivitamin arm than those in the no-multivitamin arm.

The beneficial effects of the multivitamins appeared to be similar in children with or without HIV infection.

Children of women who received vitamin A only had a reduced risk of cough with a rapid respiratory rate, which was considered a proxy for pneumonia. These children had no reduction in their risk for diarrhea and no increase in CD4+ cell counts, however.

"To our knowledge, this is the first randomized study that has examined the effect of maternal multimicronutrient supplements on infant health," the researchers write. They point out that in earlier studies, multivitamin supplements have had beneficial effects "on mortality and breast-feeding transmission of HIV-1 in subgroups of children at risk."

"Provision of multivitamin supplements (including those with vitamins B, C and E) to HIV-infected, lactating women may be a low-cost intervention to improve their children's health," the investigators conclude.