title: Characteristics of HIV-infected pregnant women in the Bahamas.
abstract: The Commonwealth of the Bahamas has one of the highest rates of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the English-speaking Caribbean. A seroprevalence study of pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in New Providence in 1990-91 showed that of 3,914 pregnant women tested, 2.9% were human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected. Women born in the Bahamas constituted 79.2% of the women tested; 17.7% were born in Haiti. The rate of HIV infection was 2.5% in the Bahamian women as compared with 4.5% in those born in Haiti. The highest incidence was in women aged 25-34 years and in women who had multiple pregnancies. There was a significant association with a history of crack cocaine use by the Bahamian women. There was also a significant association between a lack of education and HIV infection in this group. There was a lower rate of condom use among women with less education and also among women in common-law relationships, but the association of lack of condom use and HIV infection did not reach statistical significance.
authors.affiliation: Princess Margaret Hospital, Department of Public Health, Ministry of Health, Nassau, Bahamas.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Gomez
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Bain
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Major
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gray
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Read
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D001444:Bahamas / Q000453:epidemiology; D017280:Condoms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016578:Crack Cocaine; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006205:Haiti / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007563:Jamaica / Q000208:ethnology; D002189:Marijuana Abuse / Q000150:complications; D017533:Marital Status; D010298:Parity; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications; D013587:Syphilis / Q000150:complications; D014481:United States / Q000208:ethnology
chemical_list: D016578:Crack Cocaine; D015483:HIV Antibodies