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Published on: October 31, 2010
Sustainability of Statewide Rapid HIV Testing in Labor and Delivery
Lynn M Yee1,2, Emily S Miller3,4,5, Anne Statton4
1Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 250 E. Superior Street, #5-2191, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA. lynn.yee@northwestern.edu.
Abstract:
The objective was to assess sustainability of a statewide program of HIV rapid testing (RT) for pregnant women presenting for delivery with unknown HIV status. This is a population-based retrospective cohort study of women delivered in Illinois hospitals (2012-15). Deidentified data on RT metrics from state-mandated surveillance reports were compared using descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests of trend. Over 95% of the 608,408 women delivered had documented HIV status at presentation. The rate of undocumented HIV status rose from 4.19 to 4.75% (p < 0.001). However, overall 99.60% of women with undocumented status appropriately received RT and the proportion who did not receive RT declined (p = 0.003). The number of neonates discharged with unknown HIV status declined (p = 0.011). RT identified 23 new HIV diagnoses, representing 4.62% of maternal HIV diagnoses. In conclusion, statewide perinatal HIV RT resulted in nearly 100% of Illinois mother-infant dyads with known HIV status. Sustained RT completion represents an important prevention safety net.
