Maternal complications after caesarean section in HIV infected women

Objective: To assess the intervention related risk in HIV-infected women, u ndergoing caesarean section (CS). Setting: Tertiary care center for high ri sk obstetrics and infectious diseases in pregnancy. Patients and methods: T hirty-three HIV-positive women and one hundred and sixty-eight controls, cr oss matched for age, weight, parity, obstetrical characteristics at deliver y and indication for CS, were prospectively recruited for the study. Infect ion related characteristics, as mode of acquisition, drug abuse, immune sta tus and stage of disease were also recorded. Complications of the intervent ion were evaluated according to infectious status and risk factors. Results : Post-operative complications were significantly more frequent among HIV-i nfected mothers. More advanced disease and maternal age were the risk facto rs statistically related to complications. Discussion: According to our dat a, CS carries a higher chance of post-operative complications in HIV-infect ed women, these complications being also related with the severity of infec tion (stage and duration of the disease). Given the characteristics of the population in the study (mode of acquisition, prevalence of early stage of the disease), the rate of complication is still relatively low compared to non-western, malnourished, drug-abusers groups. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science I reland Ltd. All rights reserved.