Mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection and its associated factors in the district of Bilene, Gaza Province-Mozambique

• Published in: PloS one 2021-12, Vol.16 (12), p.e0260941-e0260941
• Main Authors: Osório, Dulce, Munyangaju, Isabelle, Nacarapa, Edy, Muhiwa, Argentina, Nhangave, Amancio Vicente, Ramos, Jose Manuel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; Adult; Age; AIDS; Antiretroviral agents; Antiretroviral therapy; Biology and Life Sciences; Case-Control Studies; Children; Confidence intervals; Disease transmission; Female; Gestational Age; Health aspects; Health care facilities; Health facilities; Health risks; HIV; HIV infection; HIV Infections - epidemiology; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Infections; Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical - statistics & numerical data; Male; Maternal Age; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mozambique; People and Places; Perinatal infection; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious - epidemiology; Retrospective Studies; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Risk management; Rural areas; Rural Health; Rural Population; Rural women; Sexually transmitted diseases; Statistical analysis; Statistics; STD; Viral Load
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260941

Mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection is a significant problem in Mozambique. This study aims to determine the risk factors associated with mother-to-child transmission of HIV in rural Mozambique. Retrospective case-control study in a rural area of Bilene District, on the coast of southern Mozambique, performed from January 2017 to June 2018. The analysis considered the clinical data of HIV exposed children with definitive HIV positive results and their respective infected mothers (cases), and the data of HIV exposed children with definitive HIV negative results and their respective infected mothers (controls) registered in At Risk Child Clinics from 1st January 2017 to 30th June 2018 at the Macia and Praia de Bilene health facilities in Bilene district, Gaza province-Mozambique. Ninety pregnant women with HIV were involved in the study, including 30 who had transmitted the infection to their children and 60 who had not. Statistical analysis, adjusted for maternal age and gestational age at first antenatal care visit, showed that independent risk factors for transmission were gestational age at first visit (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.19, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.05-1.36), non-adherence to combination antiretroviral therapy (56.7% vs. 5%; aOR 14.12, 95% CI 3.15-63.41); a viral load of 1000 copies/mL or more (90% vs. 5%; aOR: 156, 95% CI 22.91-1,062) and female sex of the neonate (80% vs. 51.7%; aOR: 4.43, 95% CI 1.33-15.87). A high viral load and non-adherence to antiretroviral therapy are important predictors of mother-to-child HIV transmission.