Epidemiological, clinical, and biological profiles of HIV-infected pregnant women in the PMTCT department of Panzi Hospital: A retrospective cohort study in eastern DR. Congo

Introduction: Screening and surveillance of HIV infected pregnant women remains a public health problem in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This study’s aim was to assess the epidemiological, clinical, and biological profiles of HIV-infected pregnant women in the eastern region of DRC (South Kivu). Methods This was a retrospective cohort study conducted in Panzi Hospital from July 2015 to July 2020. Univariate analysis and multiple logistic regression were used to measure the strength of the association between independent variables and HIV status among pregnant women. Results During the study period, 9143 women were registered for PMTCT, including 6318 pregnant women tested for HIV. Among them 256 were HIV-positive (4.1%) (256/6318), and 112 were pregnant, a rate of 43.7% (112/256). HIV infected pregnant women had lower ANC rate than HIV negative pregnant women. The main opportunistic found among HIV infected women were candidiasis and genital herpes, with 2.7% in both cases. Only 58.03% (65/112) HIV infected pregnant women had available CD4 count and all of them had CD4 count above 500 cells/ml. Viral load was found undetectable (less than 30 copies/l) 60.7% (68/112) HIV infected pregnant women. Liver and renal dysfunctions were estimated at 6.2% and 30.3%, respectively. Lastly, 61.6% HIV infected pregnant women had the heamoglobin of < 12 g/dl. In multivariable logistic regression, HIV infected pregnant women under 20 years of age (aOR = 7.20; 95% CI: 1.78–29.1; p = 0.004), primary level of education (aOR = 5.30; 95% CI: 1.94–14.4; p = 0.001), household income of 50-100U$ per months (aOR = 56.4; 95% CI: 13.1-240.5; p = 0.001), primipara (aOR = 10. 68; 95% CI: 2.17–52.42; p = 0.001), and poverty (aOR = 18; 95% CI: 3.61–89.60; p < 0.001) were all associated with positive HIV status. In contrast, multigravida (aOR = 0.19; 95% CI: 0.09–0.38; p = 0.001), staying in ibanda health zone (aOR = 0.06; 95% CI: 0.01–0.23; p = 0.001), and Kadutu zone (aOR = 0.21; 95% CI: 0.05–0.86; p = 0.037) were associated with lower risk of HIV positive status among pregnant women. Conclusion Our findings highlighted that epidemiological, clinical, and biological profile of HIV-infected pregnant women may an important role in PMTCT. Regular screening of viral load is substantial in HIV infected pregnant women in our setting.