Cesarean Delivery Can Reduce Vertical HIV-1 Transmission

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Cesarean Delivery Can Reduce Vertical HIV-1 Transmission

Reuters Health Information Services (12/25/97)

Abstract: According to a report in the December issue of AIDS, Spanish researchers from the Hospital Universitari 'Germans Trias i Pujol' and the Working Group on HIV-1 Vertical Transmission evaluated the risk factors of vertical HIV-1 transmission among 599 infants born to 520 HIV-infected mothers. The study was conducted before the effects of zidovudine during pregnancy were established, so none of the women received zidovudine prophylaxis. Overall, the researchers found that the vertical transmission rate was 18.6 percent, although Cesarean section and maternal HIV infection through injection drug use were both associated with lower rates of transmission. Higher rates of transmission were linked to breast feeding, very low birth weight, and p24 antigenemia. The findings may prove useful in cases where the infected mother is identified too late to begin the zidovudine treatment, the researchers concluded.

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