JOHANNESBURG, According to a recently published study in PLoS One, HIV-positive women who are receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) are twice as likely to become pregnant as those not receiving ART.
The study was conducted amongst Sub-Saharan African women who were enrolled in the Mother-to-Child Transmission-Plus (MTCT-Plus) Initiative, which is an HIV treatment program for women and children.
Of the 4,531 women studied, 589 pregnancies were recorded. Among them, 345 pregnancies occurred in women receiving ART and 244 pregnancies occurred in women not receiving ART.
The researchers of this study wanted to explore this topic because many of the patients receiving ART in Sub-Saharan Africa are women of childbearing age. Since mother-to-child transmission is one of the principle methods of spreading HIV, the increased incidence of pregnancy amongst HIV-positive women could pose potential problems.
The cause for the relationship between ART and pregnancy are not known; however, the researchers suspect that behavioral causes, such as women feeling healthier, may lead to them feeling more inclined to become pregnant.
Fortunately, recent studies have shown that mothers receiving ART are not putting their babies at risk for harmful side effects such as impaired mental and motor functioning.
According to a study published in the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, out of 1,840 children born between 1993 and 2006, the 92 percent whose mothers were receiving ART during their pregnancies did not have lower mental and motor functioning than the 8 percent whose mothers were not receiving ART during their pregnancies (see related news).
Although such results are encouraging, further research into this field is still necessary, especially in areas such as Sub-Saharan Africa where nearly 60 percent of all HIV and AIDS patients are women of childbearing age.
Moreover, further studies have shown that many HIV-positive women have plans to become pregnant in the future (see related Beacon News). According to a study conducted in Ontario, Canada, 69 percent of women enrolled in the study desired to become pregnant, and 58 percent intended to become pregnant.
Such statistics point to the need for further research regarding how infants are affected by their mothers’ HIV status and by the treatments their mothers are receiving.
On the flip side, the growing number of women who are pregnant or intending on becoming pregnant raises the concern of how the HIV and AIDS epidemic can be controlled when mother-to-child transmission is a major pathway by which the disease is spread.
For more information, please see the PLoS One Web site.
By Meerat Oza
The AIDS Beacon