Transfer to Adult Care

CHIPS follow-up ceases when a young person transfers from paediatric to adult care.  However we are now beginning to enroll participants aged ≥16 into the UK Register of HIV Seroconverters, to ensure that we can continue to monitor their health into adulthood.  The UK Register works in the same way as CHIPS, with an annual follow-up form being sent out to the clinic where the patient is treated, and is also coordinated at the MRC Clinical Trials Unit.  Young people need to sign a consent form to enter this study.  For further information please contact the CHIPS Data Manager.

We are also recruiting young people into the Adolescents and Adults Living with Perinatal HIV (AALPHI) cohort study.  This is an observational cohort that aims to follow HIV-infected young people in the UK aged 13-21 as they move into adulthood has opened. Findings from the Adolescents and Adults Living with Perinatal HIV Cohort (AALPHI) study (known to young people as Alfie) will help health professionals improve HIV treatment and support for young people with HIV in the future.

Two groups of young people are being invited to participate in the study: 400 young people who were infected with HIV as children; and, 300 young people who are not HIV infected, but are either a sibling of or live in the same house as an HIV positive person in the study, or were born to an HIV positive mother. By comparing these two groups, we hope to be able to find out whether any ill-health in the HIV positive group is due to HIV, and anti-HIV drugs, or to lifestyle factors (e.g. environment, family circumstances, education).  Participants are being recruited from paediatric and adult HIV clinics, as well as referral by study participants and the voluntary sector.  If you want more information, think your organisation or clinic should be involved, or you have children or are yourself interested in participating, please do not hesitate to contact the study team by clicking here.