Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV: Postpartum adherence to Option B+ until 18 months in Western Uganda.

Since 2012, the WHO recommends Option B+ for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. This approach entails the initiation of lifelong antiretroviral therapy in all HIV-positive pregnant women, also implying protection during breastfeeding for 12 months or longer. Research on long-term...

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Main Authors: Sarah Decker, Eva Rempis, Alexandra Schnack, Vera Braun, John Rubaihayo, Priscilla Busingye, Nazarius Mbona Tumwesigye, Gundel Harms, Stefanie Theuring
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2017-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0179448&type=printable
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author Sarah Decker
Eva Rempis
Alexandra Schnack
Vera Braun
John Rubaihayo
Priscilla Busingye
Nazarius Mbona Tumwesigye
Gundel Harms
Stefanie Theuring
author_facet Sarah Decker
Eva Rempis
Alexandra Schnack
Vera Braun
John Rubaihayo
Priscilla Busingye
Nazarius Mbona Tumwesigye
Gundel Harms
Stefanie Theuring
author_sort Sarah Decker
collection DOAJ
description Since 2012, the WHO recommends Option B+ for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. This approach entails the initiation of lifelong antiretroviral therapy in all HIV-positive pregnant women, also implying protection during breastfeeding for 12 months or longer. Research on long-term adherence to Option B+ throughout breastfeeding is scarce to date. Therefore, we conducted a prospective observational cohort study in Fort Portal, Western Uganda, to assess adherence to Option B+ until 18 months postpartum. In 2013, we recruited 67 HIV-positive, Option B+ enrolled women six weeks after giving birth and scheduled them for follow-up study visits after six, twelve and 18 months. Two adherence measures, self-reported drug intake and amount of drug refill visits, were combined to define adherence, and were assessed together with feeding information at all study visits. At six months postpartum, 51% of the enrolled women were considered to be adherent. Until twelve and 18 months postpartum, adherence for the respective follow-up interval decreased to 19% and 20.5% respectively. No woman was completely adherent until 18 months. At the same time, 76.5% of the women breastfed for ≥12 months. Drug adherence was associated with younger age (p<0.01), lower travel costs (p = 0.02), and lower number of previous deliveries (p = 0.04). Long-term adherence to Option B+ seems to be challenging. Considering that in our cohort, prolonged breastfeeding until ≥12 months was widely applied while postpartum adherence until the end of breastfeeding was poor, a potential risk of postpartum vertical transmission needs to be taken seriously into account for Option B+ implementation.
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spelling doaj-art-d959421bbb154871b5b02fb93af1be3f2025-08-20T02:46:04ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032017-01-01126e017944810.1371/journal.pone.0179448Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV: Postpartum adherence to Option B+ until 18 months in Western Uganda.Sarah DeckerEva RempisAlexandra SchnackVera BraunJohn RubaihayoPriscilla BusingyeNazarius Mbona TumwesigyeGundel HarmsStefanie TheuringSince 2012, the WHO recommends Option B+ for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. This approach entails the initiation of lifelong antiretroviral therapy in all HIV-positive pregnant women, also implying protection during breastfeeding for 12 months or longer. Research on long-term adherence to Option B+ throughout breastfeeding is scarce to date. Therefore, we conducted a prospective observational cohort study in Fort Portal, Western Uganda, to assess adherence to Option B+ until 18 months postpartum. In 2013, we recruited 67 HIV-positive, Option B+ enrolled women six weeks after giving birth and scheduled them for follow-up study visits after six, twelve and 18 months. Two adherence measures, self-reported drug intake and amount of drug refill visits, were combined to define adherence, and were assessed together with feeding information at all study visits. At six months postpartum, 51% of the enrolled women were considered to be adherent. Until twelve and 18 months postpartum, adherence for the respective follow-up interval decreased to 19% and 20.5% respectively. No woman was completely adherent until 18 months. At the same time, 76.5% of the women breastfed for ≥12 months. Drug adherence was associated with younger age (p<0.01), lower travel costs (p = 0.02), and lower number of previous deliveries (p = 0.04). Long-term adherence to Option B+ seems to be challenging. Considering that in our cohort, prolonged breastfeeding until ≥12 months was widely applied while postpartum adherence until the end of breastfeeding was poor, a potential risk of postpartum vertical transmission needs to be taken seriously into account for Option B+ implementation.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0179448&type=printable
spellingShingle Sarah Decker
Eva Rempis
Alexandra Schnack
Vera Braun
John Rubaihayo
Priscilla Busingye
Nazarius Mbona Tumwesigye
Gundel Harms
Stefanie Theuring
Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV: Postpartum adherence to Option B+ until 18 months in Western Uganda.
PLoS ONE
title Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV: Postpartum adherence to Option B+ until 18 months in Western Uganda.
title_full Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV: Postpartum adherence to Option B+ until 18 months in Western Uganda.
title_fullStr Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV: Postpartum adherence to Option B+ until 18 months in Western Uganda.
title_full_unstemmed Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV: Postpartum adherence to Option B+ until 18 months in Western Uganda.
title_short Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV: Postpartum adherence to Option B+ until 18 months in Western Uganda.
title_sort prevention of mother to child transmission of hiv postpartum adherence to option b until 18 months in western uganda
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0179448&type=printable
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