Reproductive health, social life and plans for the future of adolescents growing-up with HIV: a case-control study in Thailand

ABSTRACT

Most perinatally HIV-infected children receiving antiretroviral treatment now survive into adolescence. This is a period when young people experience puberty, shape their sexual identity and initiate their own social life. The aim of our analysis was to compare aspects of the sexual and reproductive health, social life and plans for the future of perinatally HIV-infected adolescents (PHIVAs) with a control group from the general population. We used data from the Teens Living with Antiretrovirals (TEEWA) survey carried out from 2010 to 2012 in Thailand among PHIVAs aged 12–19 years. Adolescents completed a self-administered questionnaire focusing on their daily life. Each PHIVA (case) was matched on sex, age and place of residence with a randomly selected adolescent from the general population (control). Analysis was stratified by gender and age; McNemar’s test was used to compare cases and controls. A total of 1142 adolescents (571 cases and 571 controls) were included in the analysis, 42% boys and 58% girls. Cases experienced puberty delay compared to controls (p < 0.01). Cases and controls did not differ in terms of sex education, sexual initiation, romantic relationships or friendships, and risky behaviours. However, PHIVAs were less likely to attend the education system (p < 0.01), to plan for marriage (p < 0.01) or parenthood (p < 0.01). PHIVAs do not differ substantially from controls in terms of sexual and social life. Yet, affirmative action policies could help counterbalance their educational handicap. Provision of psychosocial support could enhance their ability to make informed decisions with regards to family formation.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescents
• Thailand
• HIV/AIDS
• perinatal transmission
• reproductive health
• sexuality

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the adolescents and their families who participated in the study. We are also thankful to the staff from the participating centres. We want to specially thank the staff from PHPT, in particular Nirattiya Jaisieng for the data management and Kunnatee Saopang for the data-entry, as well as the interviewers Parinya Jongpaijitsakul and Surush Suwunta.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

L. Rolland-Guillard http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9601-4025

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the SIDACTION under Grant [AI22-1/01855]; and Oxfam GB under Grant [THAA51].