An anonymous seroprevalence survey of HIV infection among pregnant women in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory [see comments]

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1991. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

An anonymous seroprevalence survey of HIV infection among pregnant women in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory [see comments]

Can Med Assoc J. 1990 Dec 1;143(11):1187-92. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE MED/91028975
Schechter MT; Ballem PJ; Buskard NA; Le TN; Thompson M; Marion SA; O'Shaughnessy MV; Department of Health Care and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine,; University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

Abstract: We performed an anonymous seroprevalence survey of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 infection through HIV antibody testing of blood samples from 22,512 women aged 15 to 44 years receiving prenatal care in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory from Mar. 15 to Sept. 30, 1989. Of the samples six were confirmed to be HIV positive; this yielded a crude overall seroprevalence rate of 2.7 per 10,000 pregnant women (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.0 to 5.8). All of the positive samples were from women 20 to 29 years of age; four were from Vancouver, one was from Victoria, and one was from elsewhere. The highest seroprevalence rates were among women aged 15 to 29 years in Vancouver and Victoria (7.2 and 9.4 per 10,000 pregnant women respectively). Thus, 1 in 1300 pregnant women in that age group in the metropolitan areas of British Columbia was HIV positive. Application of seroprevalence rates to the total female population in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory revealed that as many as 401 women had HIV infection in 1989. Our estimates likely represent the minimum. As a subset of women of childbearing age pregnant women are likely at lowest risk of HIV infection, and so the true number of women 15 to 44 years of age with HIV infection is probably several times higher. Our study has provided a baseline assessment and will be repeated annually to analyse trends in HIV seroprevalence among pregnant women in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory.

Keywords: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/*EPIDEMIOLOGY Adolescence Adult Blood Specimen Collection British Columbia/EPIDEMIOLOGY Female Human HIV Seropositivity/EPIDEMIOLOGY *HIV Seroprevalence *HIV-1 Pregnancy Pregnancy Complications, Infectious/*EPIDEMIOLOGY Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Yukon Territory/EPIDEMIOLOGY JOURNAL ARTICLE
Comment in: Can Med Assoc J 1991 Mar 15;144(6):627-8
910228
M9120652

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