Fertility Intentions, Pregnancy, and Use of PrEP and ART for Safer Conception Among East African HIV Serodiscordant Couples

Partners Demonstration Project Team

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

African HIV serodiscordant couples often desire pregnancy, despite sexual HIV transmission risk during pregnancy attempts. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and antiretroviral therapy (ART) reduce HIV risk and can be leveraged for safer conception but how well these strategies are used for safer conception is not known. We conducted an open-label demonstration project of the integrated delivery of PrEP and ART among 1013 HIV serodiscordant couples from Kenya and Uganda followed quarterly for 2 years. We evaluated fertility intentions, pregnancy incidence, the use of PrEP and ART during peri-conception, and peri-conception HIV incidence. At enrollment, 80% of couples indicated a desire for more children. Pregnancy incidence rates were 18.5 and 18.7 per 100 person years among HIV-uninfected and HIV-infected women, and higher among women who recently reported fertility intention (adjusted odds ratio 3.43, 95% CI 2.38–4.93) in multivariable GEE models. During the 6 months preceding pregnancy, 82.9% of couples used PrEP or ART and there were no HIV seroconversions. In this cohort with high pregnancy rates, integrated PrEP and ART was readily used by HIV serodiscordant couples, including during peri-conception periods. Widespread scale-up of safer conception counseling and services is warranted to respond to strong desires for pregnancy among HIV-affected men and women.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1758-1765
Number of pages8
JournalAIDS and behavior
Volume22
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1 2018

Keywords

  • ART
  • Africa
  • Discordant couples
  • PrEP
  • Pregnancy
  • Safer conception

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Infectious Diseases

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Fertility Intentions, Pregnancy, and Use of PrEP and ART for Safer Conception Among East African HIV Serodiscordant Couples'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this