Contraception and medical gynaecology for HIV-positive women in a one-stop clinic.
HIV-positive women may be reluctant to attend gynaecology or family planning clinics for fear of divulging their condition. Therefore, a referral clinic was opened within the HIV clinic. Retrospective case-note reviews of 197 new patients revealed 109 with a variety of medical gynaecology conditions (menorrhagia being the commonest) and 88 sought contraception. The full range of contraceptives was used, including Mirena for the treatment of menorrhagia as well as contraception and the combined pill adjusted for interaction with liver enzyme-inducing antiretroviral drugs. The acceptance of contraceptive advice and gynaecological evaluation by the patients has resulted in improved reproductive health services for these HIV-positive women. In centres with large cohorts of HIV-positive women, this type of one-stop specialist clinic will be very effective in providing high-quality reproductive health care and hence, this type of clinic is recommended for such centres.
Samuel
M I
MI
Department of Sexual Health, The Caldecot Centre, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Denmark Hill, London, UK. ittysamuel@hotmail.co.uk
Welch
J
J
Tenant-Flowers
M
M
Brady
M
M
Poulton
M
M
Savvas
M
M
Kumar
U
U
Taylor
C
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D003267:Contraception; D003268:Contraception Behavior; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D005831:Genital Diseases, Female / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology; D006176:Gynecology; D006679:HIV Seropositivity; D006801:Humans; D008485:Medical Audit; D008875:Middle Aged; D034121:Reproductive Health Services