Question

Can your parents having HIV cause learning differences in children?

23 August 2024. Related: All topics, Children.

Does HIV cause autism, ADHD or other neurological health conditions? Ie are children born of parents living with HIV likely to develop conditions like these?

Answer

Answer: Simon Collins

Hi there

Thanks – this is a complicated question – and I don’t really have a direct easy answer.

In theory, HIV can be related to a higher chance of all sorts of language, learning and behavioural complications, but so can many other factors in life. These concerns can sometimes be higher in people living with HIV, whether adults or children.

So children who are born with HIV can sometimes have a higher risk of some complications. But they can also be affected by social differences when growing up linked to social stigma against HIV and if this involves stress and worries, it can also affect learning skills.

These complications are more likely to be related to HIV if HIV is more advanced or severe. They are likely to be much milder or non existent with early access to effective HIV treatment.

So if someone has always had a good CD4 count and an undetectable viral load on treatment, the risk will be minimum to them or to their children. If someone has a very low CD4 count from later diagnosis and is not on treatment, the risks will be more serious. This is also true for children living with HIV. Earlier and better treatment will reduce the risk of complications related to HIV.

But your question asked about children who were not born with HIV but where one or more parent is living with HIV. Children in this situation are called ‘exposed but uninfected’ and generally their health will be similar to children whose parents did not have HIV.

Research does sometimes report behavioural and learning differences, but this can also be social and psychological rather than medical reasons.

This probably means that all children should be closely supported and monitored so that any signal of more complicated development can give children additional support at school and when growing up if they need this.

This answer though has been very general, to deliberately refer to a range of social, learning and behavioural complications.

Your question specifically asked about autism and ADHD which have not generally been linked to HIV. Like many linked conditions these are very different from each other and it would not make sense to treat them the same way.

In general, autism and ADHD are not more common in children whose mothers are living with HIV and who are on effective treatment. Not having access to good treatment though can increase the chance of learning, behavioural and social complications to children who are born with HIV but much less so for children who are born without HIV.