TRENDS IN HIV PREVALENCE AMONG CHILDBEARING WOMEN IN THE UNITED-STATES, 1989-1994

We used data from a national serosurvey to describe national and regio nal trends in the prevalence of HIV among women giving birth in the Un ited States from 1989 through 1994, and to estimate the number of wome n between 15 and 44 years old with HIV infection who had not yet devel oped opportunistic infections defining AIDS. We compared these estimat es with AIDS prevalence and mortality estimates from the national AIDS case surveillance system. HIV seroprevalance among childbearing women remained stable nationwide from 1989 through 1994, ranging from 1.5 t o 1.7/1000 women. In the Northeast, seroprevalence declined significan tly after 1989. Seroprevalence increased significantly in the South th rough 1991 and then stabilized, although seroprevalence among black wo men continued to increase through 1994 in some southern states. Althou gh AIDS prevalence and mortality increased nationwide each year from 1 989 through 1994, the number of women infected with HIV who had not ye t developed AIDS changed little and was approximately 86,000 in 1994. Our data suggest that new HIV infections among women of reproductive a ge are occurring at a rate that offsets losses from this population du e to aging, disease progression, and death.