Fertility rates in 238 HIV-1-seropositive women in Zaire followed for 3 years post-partum.
Birth-control use and fertility rates were prospectively determined in 238 HIV-1-seropositive and 315 HIV-1-seronegative women in Kinshasa, Zaire, during the 36-month period following the delivery of their last live-born child. No women delivered children during the first follow-up year. Birth-control utilization rates (percentage use during total observation time) and fertility rates (annual number of live births per 1000 women of child-bearing age) in the second year of follow-up were 19% (107.4 per 1000) for HIV-1-seropositive women and 16% (144.7 per 1000) for HIV-1-seronegative women. In the third year of follow-up these rates were 26 (271.0 per 1000) and 16% (38.6 per 1000) for HIV-1-seropositive and HIV-1-seronegative women, respectively (P less than 0.05 for the difference in birth-control utilization and fertility rates between seropositive and seronegative women in the third year of follow-up). Seven (2.9%) of the 238 HIV-1-seropositive women initially included in the study brought their sex partners in for HIV-1 testing; three (43%) of these men were found to be HIV-1-seropositive. New HIV-1 infection did not have a dramatic effect on the fertility of seropositive women. The nearly uniform unwillingness of HIV-1-seropositive women to inform husbands or sexual partners of their HIV-1 serostatus accounted in large part for the disappointingly high fertility rates in seropositive women who had been provided with a comprehensive program of HIV counseling and birth control. Counseling services for seropositive women of child-bearing age which do not also include these women's sexual partners are unlikely to have an important impact on their high fertility rates.
Ryder
R W
RW
Project Sida, Kinshasa, Zaire.
Batter
V L
VL
Nsuami
M
M
Badi
N
N
Mundele
L
L
Matela
B
B
Utshudi
M
M
Heyward
W L
WL
D000386:AIDS-Related Complex; D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous; D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; D003275:Contraceptive Devices, Male; D015023:Democratic Republic of the Congo; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000503:physiopathology; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000503:physiopathology; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011446:Prospective Studies