Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease (Sep 2022)

Testing for HIV Increases the Odds of Correct Fetal Ultrasound Result

  • Carlo Bieńkowski,
  • Małgorzata Aniszewska,
  • Justyna D. Kowalska,
  • Maria Pokorska-Śpiewak

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed7090242
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 9
p. 242

Abstract

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Introduction: Infectious diseases during pregnancy may pose a threat to both mother and the developing fetus. It also creates an opportunity to screen for diseases being widely underdiagnosed among women in Poland, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or sexually transmitted infections (STI). Therefore, we aimed to assess the number of pregnant women that had not been tested for HIV despite the recommendations. In addition, a comparison of clinical evaluation between HIV-tested and non-tested pregnant women was also performed. Material and methods: Medical records of all consecutive pregnant women, referred to our Infectious Diseases Hospital between September 2019 and March 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Implementation of recommended screening testing towards infectious diseases during pregnancy including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), syphilis, and rubella, were also analyzed. Results: Medical records of 273 women were included in the analysis. The median age was 32 years (interquartile range: 26–33 years). In total 243/273 (89.0%) had been tested for HIV as recommended, and the remaining 30/273 (11.0%) had not been tested. HIV infection was not confirmed in any of the participants. Only one woman within the HIV non-tested group had been correctly tested towards other infections during her pregnancy. The recommended full testing was more likely to be correctly implemented in women who had also been tested for HIV (171/243, 70.4% vs. 1/30, 3.3%, OR 68.9; 95% CI 9.2–515.3, p p < 0.00001). Conclusions: Despite the law regulations, 11% of pregnant women referred to consultations to the infectious diseases center had not been tested for HIV. At the same time, correct fetal ultrasound results are more likely to occur in women tested for HIV according to recommendations. This suggests that a holistic approach to screening, both for communicable and non-communicable diseases, among pregnant women may translate to better pregnancy outcomes.

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