AIDS
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To longitudinally assess the receptive and expressive language functioning of children with symptomatic HIV disease and to explore the relationship between immune status, computed tomography (CT) brain scan abnormalities, and language dysfunction over time. ⋯ Expressive language was consistently more impaired than receptive language over 24 months, further supporting an earlier finding that expressive language was differentially affected by HIV in children with symptomatic disease. Both receptive and expressive language declined significantly after 24 months despite antiretroviral therapy, although overall cognitive function remained stable. Thus, functioning in some domains may be more vulnerable to the effects of HIV and global measures of cognitive ability may mask such differential changes in specific brain functions.