Low birth weight and adverse pregnancy outcomes among women living with HIV and HIV-uninfected in Rwanda.

Abstract

IntroductionIn utero exposure to HIV and/or antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been shown to be associated with stillbirth, preterm births, and low birth weight (LBW), but data from low-resource, high- HIV-burden settings remain limited. This study describes adverse pregnancy outcomes among Rwandan women living with HIV (WLWH) and HIV-uninfected women and examines associations between HIV, ART timing, and LBW.MethodsThis retrospective cohort study used antenatal care, delivery, and PMTCT registry data from the Central Africa International Epidemiology Databases to Evaluate AIDS (CA-IeDEA). Women with documented HIV status and recorded birth weights were included. Adverse outcomes were defined as LBW (Results and discussionAmong 10,191 women with known HIV status and babies' birth weights, 12.7% (n = 1,293) were WLWH. There were 47 stillbirths (0.5%) and 70 preterm births (0.7%). Among 10,037 term births, 366 (3.6%) were LBW. WLWH had significantly higher rates of stillbirth (0.6% vs. 0.4%, p ConclusionsEven among relatively healthy uncomplicated pregnancies in low-risk delivery settings and universal ART, WLWH experienced significantly higher rates of stillbirth and LBW. Among WLWH, initiation of ART prior to current pregnancy had a protective effect against LBW. This underscores the importance of early HIV diagnosis and initiation of ART.