Factors associated with HIV-positive women carrying pregnancies to term

To determine predictors of HIV-positive women who choose to carry a pregnancy to term.

We collected pregnancy data up to December 2008 on women who had attended the University Health Network Immunodeficiency Clinic in Toronto since 2000 and were < 50 years of age at the time of their first HIV-positive test. Data were included on all pregnancies, including those that occurred before the woman was known to be HIV positive or first attended the clinic.

Data were collected from a total of 341 women who were < 50 years of age at their first HIV-positive test. Of these women, 179 (52%) had a total of 484 pregnancies, and 110 of these pregnancies (23%) in 74 women were known to occur after the woman tested HIV positive. An additional 52 women (11%) were found to be HIV positive during the pregnancy. Predictors of a woman's carrying a pregnancy to term when HIV positive were age, region of maternal birth, number of previous live births, and pregnancy during the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) era.

HIV-positive women are more likely to carry a pregnancy to term during the new HAART era than they were before this era. Younger African-born HIV-positive women who already have children are more likely than other HIV-positive women to choose to carry a pregnancy to term.