The outcome of pregnancy among HIV infected women

Abstract

HIV remains the largest epidemic facing mankind today. The greatest burden of the disease is in sub-Saharan Africa. In the later stages of the disease, pregnancy complications have been shown to increase. Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the outcome of pregnancy among HIV infected women attending antenatal clinic at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), Maiduguri Method: 282 HIV positive pregnant women booking for antenatal care in the first trimester at the (UMTH) were recruited for the study. Another 282 pregnant women who were HIV negative booking for antenatal care during the same period served as controls. The study period was January 2006 to December 2007 inclusively. Information concerning the antenatal period, labour and delivery were obtained from the antenatal register, voluntary counselling and testing register, delivery register and the child follow-up register. Results: malaria fever, anaemia and preterm delivery were significantly commoner among the symptomatic HIV infected women than the controls. Elective caesarean section rate was also higher among the HIV positive women than the controls. Macrosomic babies, birth asphyxia and stillbirth rate were not significantly different among the two
groups even if the symptomatic HIV positive women were segregated. Low birth weight was commoner among the HIV infected women. The mean birth weight among HIV infected women was 2.7kg compared to 3.2kg among the controls. Conclusion: pregnancy complications were commoner among the symptomatic HIV infected women than asymptomatic women as well as uninfected women. It is recommended that HIV positive women should complete their families early to avoid poor pregnancy outcome.