This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Sign in
Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Effects of HIV on pregnancy

Authoring team

effects of HIV infection on pregnancy

HIV infection has little effect on pregnancy outcome or complications in the developed world. However, adverse pregnancy outcomes have been reported more commonly in a number of African studies including complications of both early and late pregnancy

  • spontaneous abortion - HIV seropositive women were 1.47 times more likely to have had a previous spontaneous abortion, and this rose to 1.81 in women in Uganda who were seropositive for both HIV and syphilis

  • ectopic pregnancy

  • infections
    • genital tract infections
      • e.g. - Neisseria gonorrhoea, Chlamydia trachomatis, Candida albicans, Trichomonas vaginalis
      • syphilis - more common in HIV-positive women in African studies. Concurrent infection with syphilis was shown in 33% of HIV-positive pregnant women in South Africa: three times higher than the rate in HIV seronegative women
    • bacterial pneumonia, urinary tract infections and other infections
    • opportunistic infections seen in HIV infection e.g. - tuberculosis, Herpes zoster

  • preterm labour - rates as high as double those rates seen in uninfected women in some reports

  • preterm rupture of membranes

  • low birth weight - has been reported in some studies in developing countries
    • in a Nairobi study, HIV-positive women showed a threefold increase in the risk of delivering a low birth weight baby. This risk was higher with symptomatic HIV infection

  • increased stillbirth rates

Reference:

Create an account to add page annotations

Create a free account

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.

The content herein is provided for informational purposes and does not replace the need to apply professional clinical judgement when diagnosing or treating any medical condition. A licensed medical practitioner should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.

Connect

Copyright 2024 Oxbridge Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of OmniaMed Communications Limited. All rights reserved. Any distribution or duplication of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. Oxbridge Solutions receives funding from advertising but maintains editorial independence.