Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Infectious Diseases in Obstetrics and Gynecology
Volume 2013, Article ID 301763, 6 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/301763
Research Article
Comparison of Pregnancies between Perinatally
and Sexually HIV-Infected Women: An Observational
Study at an Urban Hospital
Martina L. Badell,
1
Alisa Kachikis,
1
Lisa B. Haddad,
1
Minh Ly Nguyen,
2
and Michael Lindsay
1
1
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Emory University School of Medicine, 69 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
2
Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
Correspondence should be addressed to Martina L. Badell; mbadell@emory.edu
Received 28 May 2013; Accepted 8 August 2013
Academic Editor: Gregory T. Spear
Copyright © 2013 Martina L. Badell et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.
As perinatally HIV-infected (PHIV) women reach reproductive age, there is an increasing number who become pregnant. Tis
is a retrospective cohort study of HIV-infected women who delivered from June 2007 to July 2012 at our institution. Maternal
demographics, HIV characteristics, and obstetric and neonatal outcomes were compared. 20 PHIV and 80 SHIV pregnancies were
reviewed. Te groups had similar CD4+ counts, prevalence of AIDS, and use of antiretrovirals (ARV) at initiation of obstetrical
care. PHIV women were signifcantly more likely to be younger, have a detectable viral load (35% versus 74%, < 0.01), and have
HIV-genotype resistance (40% versus 12%, < 0.01) than the SHIV women. Te median gestational age at delivery (38 weeks)
and rates of obstetrical and neonatal complications were similar between the groups. While the overall rate of cesarean delivery
(CD) was similar, the rates for CD due to HIV were higher in the PHIV group (64% versus 22%, < 0.01). Tere was one case
(5.3%) of mother-to-child transmission in the PHIV group versus two cases (2.6%) in the SHIV group. In our population, PHIV
pregnant women have a higher rate of HIV-genotype resistance and higher rate of detectable viral load leading to a higher rate of
CD secondary to HIV.
1. Introduction
Te frst cases of mother-to-infant or vertical transmission of
human immunodefciency virus (HIV) were described more
than two decades ago. In the early 1980s, the majority of
perinatally acquired HIV (PHIV) children did not survive
beyond childhood. As the perinatally infected cohorts have
beneftted from combined highly active antiretroviral therapy
(HAART), they are living longer and the frst wave is reaching
adolescence and young adulthood. Te estimated number
of perinatally infected persons living with HIV was 6,051
in 2005 for the 33 jurisdictions with HIV being reported in
the United States [1]. As perinatally HIV-infected females
become sexually active, they are in turn at risk of transmitting
HIV to their children. Currently health care providers of
PHIV women are encountering reproductive health concerns
in this population with little evidence to guide them.
Although HAART has markedly decreased the risk of
perinatal HIV transmission in the USA among adult females
infected with HIV and there is substantial literature regard-
ing pregnancy outcomes in HIV-infected women, little is
known about the course of pregnancy among perinatally
infected females. In an editorial response to a report describ-
ing pregnancy in perinatally HIV-infected adolescents and
young adults, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in
2003 recommended enhanced eforts to identify pregnancies
among perinatally HIV-infected adolescents/young adults
and more in-depth investigation of such pregnancies to better
characterize the factors associated with these pregnancies
and their outcomes [2]. Since 1998, 13 reports of pregnancies