title: Prevalence of HIV among women entering labor who accepted or declined voluntary counseling and testing.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess whether there was a difference in HIV seroprevalence between eligible women who declined and those who agreed to participate in a study of voluntary counseling and testing among women entering labor with unknown HIV status in South Africa.
  
  
  METHODS
  Anonymous cord blood specimens were collected-as dried blood spots-from all women approached for participation in a cluster-randomized trial. No patient identifiers were included on the cord blood specimens. The dried blood spots were analyzed for HIV antibody via enzyme immunoassay and western blotting.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 7238 women screened for study participation, 1041 (14.4%) had undocumented HIV status; of these women, 542 were eligible for inclusion and 343 enrolled. Based on 513 evaluable samples, the overall seroprevalence was 13.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 10.4-16.5), which was similar to the 13.1% (95% CI, 9.7-17.2) seroprevalence among the 343 enrolled women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Seroprevalence among eligible women was similar to that among enrolled women, which indicates that study participation did not select for a group with an HIV seroprevalence substantially different from that among women who declined to enroll.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa. gbth@sun.ac.za
authors.forename: Gerhard B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Theron
authors.forename: Mae P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Cababasay
authors.forename: Russell B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Van Dyke
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Shapiro
authors.forename: Jeanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Louw
authors.forename: D Heather
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Watts
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bulterys
authors.forename: Linda M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Styer
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maupin
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D035141:Voluntary Programs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*