title: Duration of cART Before Delivery and Low Infant Birthweight Among HIV-Infected Women in Lusaka, Zambia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the association between duration of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) during pregnancy and low infant birthweight (LBW), among women ≥37 weeks of gestation.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a retrospective cohort study of HIV-infected women who met eligibility criteria based on CD4 count ≤350 but had not started cART at entry into antenatal care. Our cohort was restricted to births that occurred ≥37 weeks of gestation.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used Poisson models with robust variance estimators to estimate risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 50,765 HIV-infected women with antenatal visits between January 2009 and September 2013, 4474 women met the inclusion criteria. LBW occurred in 302 pregnancies (7%). Nearly two-thirds of women (62%) eligible to initiate cART never started treatment. Overall, 14% were on cART for ≤8 weeks, 22% for 9-20 weeks, and 2% for 21-36 weeks. There was no evidence of an increased risk of LBW for women receiving cART for ≤8 weeks (RR = 1.22; 95% CI: 0.77 to 1.91), 9-20 weeks (RR = 1.23; 95% CI: 0.82 to 1.83), or 21-36 weeks (RR = 0.87; 95% CI: 0.22 to 3.46), compared with women who never initiated treatment. These findings were consistent across several sensitivity analyses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Longer duration of cART was not associated with poor fetal growth among term pregnancies in our cohort. However, the relationship between cART and adverse pregnancy outcomes remains complicated. Continued work is required to investigate causality. An understanding cART's impact on adverse pregnancy outcomes is essential as cART becomes the cornerstone of preventing mother-to-child transmission programs globally.
authors.affiliation: *Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; †Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia; ‡Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; §Department of Public Health, University of Zambia School of Medicine, Lusaka, Zambia; and ‖Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Angela M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bengtson
authors.forename: Carla J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Chibwesha
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Westreich
authors.forename: Mwangelwa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mubiana-Mbewe
authors.forename: Bellington
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vwalika
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Muntanga
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mapani
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Musonda
authors.forename: Audrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pettifor
authors.forename: Benjamin H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Chi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011295:Prenatal Care; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015024:Zambia
chemical_list: D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents