Morbidity in the first year postpartum among HIV-infected women in Kenya
Document Type
Article
Department
Obstetrics and Gynaecology (East Africa)
Abstract
Objective:
To assess the effects of HIV infection on morbidity and the needs of infected women for services in the first year postpartum. Methods: A cross-sectional study with 500 women attending a child-health clinic in Mombasa, Kenya.
Results:
Postpartum duration was a median of 3.3 months (interquartile range, 1.9–6.1 months). The 54 HIV-infected women had a lower income and less financial support than the uninfected women, and they were more likely to experience fever, dyspnea, and dysuria, and to have genital warts (odds ratio [OR], 9.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.6–35.6; P < 0.001), candidiasis (OR, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.2–6.8; P = 0.012), and bacterial vaginosis (OR, 1.8; 95% CI, 0.95–3.3; P = 0.066). Six (nearly 15%) of the HIV-infected women had low- or high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions, and 21 (42%) had an unmet need for contraception. More than half of all women were anemic, and normocytic anemia was predominant among the HIV infected.
Conclusion:
Compared with uninfected women, morbidity was increased for HIV-infected women during the year following delivery. This period could be used to offer these, and all-women, family planning services, cervical cancer screening, and treatment for anemia and reproductive tract infections.
Publication (Name of Journal)
Int J Gynaecol Obstet
Recommended Citation
Chersich, M. F.,
Luchters, S. M.,
Yard, E.,
Othigo, J. M.,
Kley, N.,
Temmerman, M.
(2008). Morbidity in the first year postpartum among HIV-infected women in Kenya. Int J Gynaecol Obstet, 100(1), 45-51.
Available at:
https://ecommons.aku.edu/eastafrica_fhs_mc_obstet_gynaecol/608
Comments
This work was published before the author joined Aga Khan University.