Table 3. Characteristics of women and infants associated with positive first PCR versus negative first PCR.
| Characteristic | Infants with first PCR positive(N = 45) | Infants with first PCR negative(N = 1043) | p-value | |
| Maternal Age, mean years (SD) | 26.7 (4.9) | 27.9 (5.3) | 0.164 | |
| Trimester of pregnancy: n/N (%) | 0.100 | |||
| First | 5/45 (11.1) | 49/1038 (4.7) | ||
| Second | 28/45 (62.2) | 617/1038 (59.4) | ||
| Third | 12/45 (26.7) | 372/1038 (35.8) | ||
| HIV status at enrollment, n/N (%) | 0.355 | |||
| Newly diagnosed as HIV-infected | 35/45 (77.8) | 745/1043 (71.4) | ||
| Already known to be HIV-infected | 10/45 (22.2) | 298/1043 (28.6) | ||
| ART eligibility at enrolment, n/N (%) | 0.015 | |||
| On ART | 2/39 (5.1) | 260/1026 (25.3) | 0.002a | |
| Eligible but not on ART | 15/39 (38.5) | 292/1026 (28.5) | 0.176 | |
| Not Eligible | 22/39 (56.4) | 474/1026 (46.2) | 0.210 | |
| CD4+ cells/mm3 at PMTCT entry for women not already on ART, n/N (%) b | 0.337 | |||
| ≤ 250 | 8/37 (21.6) | 184/766 (24.0) | ||
| 251–349 | 10/37 (27.0) | 139/766 (18.1) | ||
| 350–499 | 12/37 (32.4) | 212/766 (27.7) | ||
| ≥500 | 7/37 (18.9) | 231/766 (30.2) | ||
| ARV regimen category, n/N (%) c | <0.001 | |||
| Prophylaxis | 38 (84.4) | 565 (54.2) | ||
| Antiretroviral therapy | 7 (15.6) | 478 45.8) | ||
| ARV regimen category, n/N (%) c | <0.001 | |||
| Suboptimal ARV prophylaxis | 10/45 (22.2) | 86/1043 (8.2) | 0.001a | |
| Optimal comb. ARV prophylaxis | 28/45 (62.2) | 479/1043 (45.9) | 0.032 | |
| Antiretroviral therapy | 7/45 (15.6) | 478/1043 (45.8) | <0.001a | |
| Duration of antenatal ART, n/N (%) | 0.001a | |||
| Late ART (initiated <14 weeks prior to delivery) | 7/7 (100.0) | 180/478 (37.7) | ||
| Early ART (initiated ≥14 weeks prior to delivery) | 0/7 (0.0) | 298/478 (62.3) | ||
| Partner Disclosure status at enrollment, n/N (%) d | 0.235 | |||
| Partner involved and disclosed | 13/45 (28.9) | 306/1043 (29.3) | ||
| Partner involved, not disclosed | 32/45 (71.1) | 676/1043 (64.8) | ||
| Partner not involved | 0/45 (0.0) | 61/1043 (5.8) | ||
| Delivery Location, n/N (%) | 0.293 | |||
| Home | 2/45 (4.4) | 24/1043 (2.3) | ||
| Health center | 43/45 (95.6) | 1017/1043 (97.5) | ||
| Traditional Birth Attendant | 0/0 (0.0) | 2/1043 (0.2) | ||
| Feeding Choice, n/N (%) | 0.708 | |||
| Breast feeding | 44/44 (100.0) | 1020/1036 (98.5) | ||
| Mixed | 0/44 (0.0) | 1/1036 (0.1) | ||
| Replacement feeding | 0/44 (0.0) | 15/1036 (1.4) | ||
Denotes p< alpha, equal to 0.05 for 2-category comparisons or adjusted to 0.017 for 3-category comparisons. Post hoc analysis performed only if the global p-value (in bold) was <0.05. (see Methods).
1088 available PCR results, of these 262 mothers were already on ART, 23 with no corresponding maternal CD4 results, therefore 803 available CD4 results with corresponding PCR results.
For explanations of ARV regimen categories please refer to Figure 1.
Partner disclosed defined as partner having knowledge of maternal HIV status. Partner non-involved defined as a partner who has died, or is otherwise separated from the mother.
Abbreviations: PCR (polymerase chain reaction)- DNA PCR test for HIV, ART (antiretroviral therapy), ARV (antiretroviral), CD4+ (CD4+ cell count), PMTCT (prevention of mother-to-child transmission).