Adherence to anti-retroviral therapy in mothers with HIV infection and its relation to infants’ status

Abstract

Effective Prevention of Mother-to-Child-Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV depend on the adherence to Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) by pregnant and lactating mothers. This prospective cohort study aims to determine the adherence of infected mothers to ART and its relation to infant’s contamination at 6 weeks. We recruited 110 HIV pregnant mothers during pregnancy and their 6 to 8 weeks old infant with their DNA/PCR test performed. Fisher’s test was used to search factors associated with the level of adherence to ART considering p < 0.05. The mean age of mothers was 31.2± 6.2 years. Their overall level of adherence was 97.6% out of which 97.3% had a score ≥ 95%. Four infants were infected among which 3 from non-adherent and one from an adherent mother. We conclude that perfect adherence to ART greatly had an effect on the infant’s status with mother-to-child HIV transmission rate relatively low.