Pregnancy Slows HIV Progression
Reported September 24, 2007
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Contrary to popular belief, new research reveals pregnancy in women with HIV may actually slow the progression to full-blown AIDS.
Until treatment with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) became commonplace, many women living with HIV or AIDS were advised against pregnancy, as it was believed pregnancy could accelerate the disease. Experts also thought there was a 25 percent risk of transmitting the virus to the unborn child. Recently, studies have suggested there is only about a 1-percent risk of transmitting HIV to a child if the pregnant mother is using HAART, but it is still unclear how pregnancy affects disease progression in the mother.
To determine pregnancy’s effect on HIV-infected mothers, researchers from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., observed HIV-infected women between 1997 and 2004. There were 759 women in the study, of which 71 percent were receiving HAART and 18 percent (139) of the women had one or more pregnancy during the observational study.
Though researchers hypothesized there would be no difference in HIV progression between pregnant and non-pregnant women, the results of the study told a different story. Women who became pregnant during the study had a decreased risk of disease progression and were healthier than women who did not get pregnant. The women had a lower risk of disease progression before and after pregnancy.
Results of the study also point to an added benefit for mothers who had multiple pregnancies. These women had a lower risk of disease progression than did women who only had one pregnancy.
Authors of the study write, “This apparent dose-response relationship supports a possible protective effect of pregnancy on disease progression. Pregnancy is associated with a complex set of immunological changes during the gestation period, which may provide additional benefit to the mother’s health.”
SOURCE: The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2007;196:1044-1052