title: Meconium aspiration syndrome in infants of HIV-positive women: a case-control study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Our aim was to determine whether maternal HIV infection in the current era is associated with an increased incidence of meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS) in their infants.
  
  
  METHODS
  Infants born to 149 HIV-positive women at our hospital over a 5-year period were compared with infants born to HIV-negative women in a retrospective case-control study. Charts of all 298 patients included in the study were reviewed for maternal and infant demographics, HIV treatment, vertical transmission and untoward events at delivery or during the hospital course.
  
  
  RESULTS
  When compared with HIV-negative women, a greater proportion of HIV-positive women had meconium-stained amniotic fluid (MSAF), 33% vs. 13%, P<0.001; and thick MSAF, 17% vs. 5%, P<0.001, respectively. Seven of 298 infants were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit for MAS; all seven were born to HIV-positive women (P=0.015). Although in utero exposure to illicit drugs is a reported risk factor for meconium staining of the amniotic fluid and such drug exposure was more common among our HIV-positive sample, controlling for this and other possible covariates did not greatly reduce the association of HIV status with meconium-related complications of delivery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Infants born to HIV-positive women had significantly more MSAF and MAS than infants born to non-infected women. It is unclear whether this association results from maternal HIV infection itself or from anti-retroviral therapy. Maternal and infant care providers should be prepared for this complication when attending to the deliveries of HIV-positive women.
authors.forename: Sachin K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Pam
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Haerr
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: David
authors.forename: Alok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rastogi
authors.forename: Suma
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pyati
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002641:Chicago / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D008471:Meconium Aspiration Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors