HIV care continuum outcomes of pregnant women living with HIV with and without depression^†

† This study was presented as an oral presentation at the CFAR symposium, 30 September 2016 and as a poster at 7th International Workshop on HIV and Women, Seattle, Washington, 6 February 2017.

ABSTRACT

Women living with HIV (WLWH) suffer from poor viral suppression and retention postpartum. The effect of perinatal depression on care continuum outcomes during pregnancy and postpartum is unknown. We performed a retrospective cohort analysis using HIV surveillance data of pregnant WLWH enrolled in perinatal case management in Philadelphia and evaluated the association between possible or definite depression with four outcomes: viral suppression at delivery, care engagement within three months postpartum, retention and viral suppression at one-year postpartum. Out of 337 deliveries (2005–2013) from 281 WLWH, 53.1% (n = 179) had no depression; 46.9% had either definite (n = 126) or possible (n = 32) depression during pregnancy. There were no differences by depression status across all four HIV care continuum outcomes in unadjusted and adjusted analyses. The prevalence of possible or definite depression was high among pregnant WLWH. HIV care continuum outcomes did not differ by depression status, likely because of supportive services and intensive case management provided to women with possible or definite depression.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV/AIDS
• depression
• retention in care
• HIV care continuum
• maternal health

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the perinatal case management program in Philadelphia who care for pregnant and postpartum women living with HIV. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors. No official endorsement by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health or National Institutes of Health should be inferred.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

† This study was presented as an oral presentation at the CFAR symposium, 30 September 2016 and as a poster at 7th International Workshop on HIV and Women, Seattle, Washington, 6 February 2017.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Penn Mental Health AIDS Research Center (PMHARC) pilot and by the Drexel Mary Dewitt Pettit Fellowship fund. This work was supported by Drexel Mary Dewitt Pettit Fellowship fund and University of Pennsylvania Center for AIDS Research (CFAR).