COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN OUTCOMES OF NEWBORNS OF WOMEN LIVING WITH HIV WITH AND WITHOUT THE USE OF ANTIRETROVIRALS DRUGS IN A REFERENCE PUBLIC MATERNITY HOSPITAL IN THE NORTHERN REGION

Abstract

Objective: To describe and analyze characteristics of newborns born to pregnant women living with HIV, with or without adequate treatment. Method: A retrospective quantitative cross-sectional cohort study was conducted in a reference maternity hospital in the North region of Brazil. The study included pregnant women admitted to the service and their newborns (NB), from January to December 2021, who tested positive for HIV in prenatal screening. Maternal and newborn data were collected and analyzed in Microsoft Excel 2010. Independence or association between variables was assessed by chi-square or Fisher's exact test using Bioestat 5.5 and GraphPad Prism 8.4.3 and p values ≤ 0.05 were significant. Results: The study included 139 pregnant women, majority aged between 20 and 39 years (118/85.6%). Most (n=126/90.6%) had performed prenatal care, however less than six medical visits (n=102/73.4%). Of the total, 80.6%(n=112) were on adequate antiretroviral treatment and 60.4% (n=83) were found to have started treatment before pregnancy and 87.8% (n=122) VDRL negative. Most RNs (132/95%) were preterm, of adequate size for gestational age (n=120/86.3%) and with absence of malformations (133/95.6%). The majority (n=124/89.2%) were referred to rooming-in, 7.9% (n=11) required interventions and 1.4% (n=2) died, with no statistically significant differences between the two groups. Conclusion: Among the data analyzed regarding pregnant women living with HIV and their newborns, it was found that a little more than half of them started antiretroviral treatment before pregnancy. There were no statistically significant differences between the groups that did or did not receive adequate treatment.