INTRODUCTION: In the context of chronicity of AIDS, few studies have evaluated variables of physical fitness in children and adolescents; however, with adults the importance of adherence to HAART associated with physical exercise to improve these variables has been reported. OBJECTIVE: To identify the immunological and virological characteristics and flexibility (FLEX) and abdominal endurance (AE) variables of children and HIV / AIDS adolescents using HAART. METHODS: This cross-sectional study took place at the HIV / AIDS Pediatric Clinic of the University Hospital ("Hospital de Clínicas") in the city of Porto Alegre. The sample was obtained consecutively by 63 patients (10 children and 53 adolescents) of both sexes, between ages 07 and 17 years. Data analysis was performed with SPSS, version 18.0 (p < 0.05). To compare the means, paired Student's t test was used. RESULTS: The mean diagnosis time of HIV and HAART was, respectively, 11 ± 3.42 years and 40 ± 32.78 months. The prevalent form of transmission was vertical transmission (98.42%). The undetectable viral load was identified in 73.1%. The count of CD4 + and CD8 + T cells as well as their relationship, presented averages of 932.25 ± 445.53 cells / ml, 1018 ± 671.23 cells / ml and 0.90 ± 0.41, respectively. Concerning the variables FLEX and AE, regardless of sex, there was a higher proportion of children and adolescents classified below the cutoffs points. Significant difference was observed between AE and their respective cutoff points in the HIV diagnosis (p = 0.032); CD4 + (p = 0.008) and viral load (p = 0.030). There were significant differences between FLEX and its respective cutoffs in variables CD4 + / CD8 + (p = 0.022) and in the viral load (p= 0.040). CONCLUSION: The results demonstrate that immunological and virological characteristics are stable; however, undesirable levels of fitness are observed in FLEX and AE variables.
HIV/AIDS; physical fitness; children; adolescents
