AEGiS-AIDSWeekly: Screening: Study Says Mandatory Testing of Pregnant Women Would Reduce Babies with HIV and Save Money

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in April 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Screening: Study Says Mandatory Testing of Pregnant Women Would Reduce Babies with HIV and Save Money

AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, April 17, 2000
Prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports

NewsRx - Mandatory HIV screening of pregnant women would not only reduce the number of newborns with the virus, it would also cost less than voluntary testing or no tests at all, a University of Illinois analysis shows.

While the study looked at the potential benefits in Chicago, Illinois, the researchers said similar benefits could be expected elsewhere. The study appears in the April 2000 issue of Pediatrics, the medical journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Pediatrics 2000 Apr;105(4):E54

The authors, led by Dr. Lilly Cheng Immergluck of the University of Illinois-Chicago's pediatrics department, said mandatory testing would save money in the long run because it would reduce the amount of money spent on treatment.

Mothers who test positive for the AIDS virus could be given the anti-HIV drug zidovudine (AZT) and to take other precautions during delivery. The authors presumed that screening would take place fairly early in pregnancy, at 14 weeks.

Compared with voluntary screening, universal HIV testing of 100,000 pregnant women in Chicago would prevent 4.8 infant infections and save nearly $270,000, the researchers said. Compared with no testing, it would save $3.69 million and avert 64.6 infant infections, the authors said.

The figures are based on estimates that about two-fifths of 1% of pregnant women in Chicago have HIV.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have recommended universal HIV testing of pregnant women.

The researchers estimate that HIV-infected babies live on average for slightly more than nine years but because of new treatments may soon live into their early 20s.

This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.

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