AIDs / HIV (HIV infection and vertical HIV exposure)
National surveillance of HIV infection and vertical HIV exposure was carried out by the NSHPC and covered all infants born to HIV positive women in the UK and Ireland, as well as all children diagnosed with HIV (regardless of country of birth) before the age of 16. The BPSU provided case notifications to the NSHPC, facilitating data collection for national HIV paediatric surveillance. Data collected contributed to a wide range of epidemiological and clinical analyses and publications, including assessments of the impact of antenatal screening and the uptake of interventions in pregnancy and the monitoring of developments in the management of infected and exposed children.
Lead investigator
Dr A Ellam/Dr P Tookey/Dr C Thorne
About the study
Surveillance in the UK and Ireland began in 1986 to monitor the incidence and prevalence of paediatric HIV infection and vertical HIV exposure. Data is collected by NSHPC, and combines paediatric and obstetric surveillance. A summary dataset is sent by the NSHPC every three months to Public Health England (PHE) and Health Protection Scotland (HPS), including the paediatric component of national HIV surveillance. Reports are published regularly by PHE and HPS. The NSHPC team produced a quarterly newsletter and bi-annual slide sets which are available at www.ucl.ac.uk/nshpc.
All infants born to HIV diagnosed women were followed up to establish infection status. This was usually confirmed at over 18 months of age by final antibody test. Guidelines on the management of infected children were available on the Children’s HIV Association (CHIVA) website (www.chiva.org.uk) and management of HIV in pregnancy and postpartum available from the British HIV Association (BHIVA): https://www.bhiva.org/pregnancy-guidelines.
Follow-up data was sought for all infected children annually through the Collaborative HIV Paediatric Study (CHIPS) (www.chipscohort.ac.uk), a collaboration between the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit, the clinics providing care, and the NSHPC.
Duration
June 1986 – June 2019
Published papers
Vertically transmitted HIV infection in the British Isles – PMC
A full list of publications and presentations can be found at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/nshpc/publications-and-presentations
Ethical Approval
The London Multicentre Research Ethics Committee approved the NSHPC and the associated CHIPS study (London MREC/04/2/009; MREC/04/2/010); annual reports are submitted. Data can be provided to the NSHPC by PCTs and NHS Trusts under the exemption specified in the STD Regulations 2000; NIGB (Ref: PIAG/BPSU 2-10(a)/2005) has approved data collection from sources other than PCTs and NHS Trusts. For further details see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/nshpc/ethics
Funding
Funding is provided by Public Health England and the Infectious Diseases Screening Programme
Advice/Support Group
Children’s HIV Association (CHIVA)
Web: https://www.chiva.org.uk Email: message@chiva.org.uk