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The Perinatal Guidelines Evaluation Project HIV and Pregnancy Study: overview and cohort description.
Public Health Reports 2002;117:137-147.
Ethier KA, Ickovics JR, Fernandez MI, Wilson TE, Royce RA, Koenig LJ.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The HIV and Pregnancy Study of the Perinatal Guidelines Evaluation
Project is a prospective, longitudinal, multisite study established to: (a)
assess the implementation of Public Health Service guidelines regarding the
prevention of perinatal HIV transmission and (b) evaluate the psychosocial
consequences of HIV infection among pregnant women. A distinctive aspect
of the study is the use of an HIV-negative comparison group. This article
describes the methodology of the study and baseline characteristics of the
study sample. Methods and Results. HIV-infected (n = 336) and uninfected
(n = 298) pregnant women were enrolled from four geographic areas: Connecticut,
North Carolina, Brooklyn, NY, and Miami, FL. The study included three structured
face-to-face interviews from late pregnancy to six months postpartum for
HIV-infected and uninfected women. Additional self-reports of medication
adherence were collected for the HIV-infected participants, and the medical
records of infected mothers and their infants were reviewed. Electronic monitoring
of medication adherence was conducted for a subset of the infected women.
The groups were successfully matched on self-reported characteristics, including
HIV-risk behaviors. More than half of the uninfected women reported a high-risk
sexual partner. Baseline comparisons indicated that both the HIV-infected
and uninfected women had high levels of depressive symptoms, stress, and
recent negative life events. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a unique description
of the psychosocial and behavioral characteristics of a population of low-income
women. The results of this study suggest that HIV infection is one of many
stressors faced by the women in this study.