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Perinatal HIV transmission higher than expected
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In a high-risk population, incidence of perinatal mother-to-child transmission of HIV is three times higher than the current standard of care, according to study findings published in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.
Gabriela Del Bianco, MD, and colleagues from The University of Texas Medical School examined infants exposed to HIV and their mothers admitted to the University of Texas-Houston Pediatric HIV Clinic from January 2000 to June 2007 to determine which factors contribute to a high rate of perinatal mother-to-child transmission.
Overall, 6% of newborns included in the study acquired HIV infection perinatally. Seventeen percent of mothers did not receive prenatal care and 70% had a history of other STDs.
Thirty-six percent of the mothers who were not on combined antiretroviral therapy did not receive prenatal care. However, mothers not on combined ART who received prenatal care and a diagnosis of HIV before delivery yielded a lower rate of transmission to infants.
Prenatal care was also associated with a decreased rate of transmission even without receiving combined ART.
“Failure to receive [prenatal care] was the dominant common characteristic of those mothers who transmitted HIV to their newborns,” the researchers wrote. “The reasons these mothers failed to receive [prenatal care] were not determined, however illicit drug use as well as limited access to care may be contributing factors. Given a number needed to treat of two, ensuring that HIV infected mothers receive [prenatal care] would not only greatly reduce the rate of [prenatal mother-to-child transmission] within our cohort, it would also be highly cost-effective considering the tremendous financial burner of life-long HIV care.”
Disclosure: The study was funded in part by NIH. The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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