Outcome of HIV-infected Pregnant Women and Their Offspring in Barbados: A Five-year Study

To describe the outcome of HIV-infected pregnant women and their offspring during a five-year period.

The medical records of HIV-infected pregnant women who delivered between January 2007 and December 2011 and their HIV-exposed infants were reviewed. Demographics, outcome of pregnancy and infants, and clinic attendance were analysed. Data were entered on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

One hundred and forty-three women, aged 17-45 years (mean 27.3 years), were included in the study with 143 pregnancies and 142 pregnancy outcomes being recorded. One woman migrated before delivery. There were 122 live births and 18 (13%) terminations: 13 (9%) elective and five (4%) spontaneous. There was one ectopic pregnancy and one stillbirth. One hundred and twenty-two (85%) women were unmarried. Women were prescribed highly active antiretroviral therapy for prevention of mother-to-child transmission from the time of booking, apart from those opting for terminations or those who had spontaneous abortions. For clinic follow-up, 105 (73%) had regular attendance, 30 (21%) defaulted and could not be located despite intense tracking, four attended irregularly, and one refused to attend clinic. Four (3%) migrated after delivery. Two (1%) mothers died during the period of study. Two successive DNA polymerase chain reaction tests done within four months of age did not substantiate any cases of infant infection.

This study revealed that there was a good outcome and compliance with follow-up of HIV-infected pregnant women and their offspring.