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OBJECTIVES: This study had two objectives: (1) to investigate the socioeconomic and cultural characteristics of HIV-infected children and their families in relation to the presence of oral manifestations of AIDS and (2) to identify the most frequent oral manifestations of AIDS in the sample of children studied. METHODS: The sample consisted of a total of 184 children - both boys and girls - from 0 to 13 years old. The children were receiving care at two hospitals in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil (the Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre and the Hospital Sao Lucas da Pontificia Universidade Catolica), and at Stony Brook University Hospital, which is in the state of New York, United States. Data were analyzed using the chisquare test, Student's t test, and analysis of variance. RESULTS: Of the 184 patients, 117 of them (63.59%) were receiving care at the Hospital de ClÃ-nicas de Porto Alegre, 26 (14.13%) at the Hospital Sao Lucas, and 41 (22.28%) at Stony Brook University Hospital. In the Brazilian sample (the two hospitals in Porto Alegre) 42.66% of the children were living with their natural parents (mostly with the mother), while in the United States 56.10% of the children were living with foster families. Concerning income, 39.86% of the Brazilian families had a monthly income ranging from US$ 180 to US$ 450, and 33.57% had no income or did not provide information. With the United States sample, we were not allowed to ask about income, but all the families were classified by the social workers as having a monthly income below US$ 1 000. HIV was acquired through vertical transmission by 97.20% of the Brazilian children and by 97.56% of the children in the United States sample. Oral manifestations were more frequent in the Brazilian children (72.73%) than in the children in the United States sample (53.66%) (P = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of oral manifestations in the samples in both Brazil and the United States was influenced by socioeconomic and cultural conditions, family structure and income, access to information concerning AIDS, and adherence to treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]