CHILDREN AND FAMILIES doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2006.01438.x A comparison of HIV positive and negative pregnant women at a public sector hospital in South Africa Candice Bodkin PhD, BN Lecturer, Department of Nursing Education, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Gauteng, South Africa Hester Klopper PhD Professor, Department of Nursing Education, University of the Witwatersrand, Gauteng, South Africa Gayle Langley PhD Senior Lecturer, Department of Nursing Education, University of the Witwatersrand, Gauteng, South Africa Submitted for publication: 11 August 2004 Accepted for publication: 24 June 2005 Correspondence: Dr Candice Bodkin Lecturer Department of Nursing Education Faculty of Health Sciences University of the Witwatersrand 7 York Road Parktown 2193 Gauteng South Africa Telephone: þ27 11 467 9030 E-mail: harrisc@therapy.wits.ac.za BODKIN C, KLOPPER H & LANGLEY G (2006) BODKIN C, KLOPPER H & LANGLEY G (2006) Journal of Clinical Nursing 15, 735–741 A comparison of HIV positive and negative pregnant women at a public sector hospital in South Africa Aim. The aim of the study was to compare HIV positive and negative pregnant women with respect to maternal and neonatal outcome to inform the development of clinical practice guidelines. Background. HIV infection in pregnancy places an added burden on the physical ability of the woman’s body to cope with pregnancy. As a result HIV causes an exaggeration of the problems related to pregnancy. Method. Data were collected by means of a retrospective record review conducted on 212 stratified randomly selected HIV positive and 101 matched HIV negative pregnant women. The two sample t-test and Fisher exact test were used to compare the maternal and neonatal outcomes of HIV positive and negative pregnant women. Results. HIV positive pregnant women had a significantly lower haemoglobin (10Æ85 vs. 11Æ48 g/dl; P ¼ 0Æ001), attended significantly fewer antenatal clinic appointments (4Æ03 vs. 4Æ63; P ¼ 0Æ04), weighed significantly less (72Æ07 vs. 76Æ69 kg; P ¼ 0Æ02) and were significantly more likely to present with an abnormal vaginal discharge (32Æ55 vs. 24Æ75%; P ¼ 0Æ02) than HIV negative pregnant wo- men. The difference in the prevalence in HIV positive pregnant women of preg- nancy induced hypertension (16Æ98 vs. 9Æ90%; P ¼ 0Æ06), syphilis infection (5Æ95 vs. 0Æ99%; P ¼ 0Æ062) and urinary tract infection (15Æ53 vs. 7Æ92%; P ¼ 0Æ06) approached significance when compared with HIV negative pregnant women. HIV positive pregnant women were significantly more likely to present with intrauterine growth retardation (4Æ72 vs. 0%; P ¼ 0Æ03), significantly more likely to deliver earlier (37Æ92 vs. 38Æ51 weeks; P ¼ 0Æ03) and significantly more likely to deliver neonates weighing less (2969Æ98 vs. 3138Æ43 g; P ¼ 0Æ01) than HIV negative pregnant women. Conclusion. The Department of Health attributes the high rate of HIV and AIDS related maternal morbidity and mortality in South Africa to the absence of accepted Ó 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 735