Table 1.

Overall characteristics of included studies

First Author	Publica tion year	Type of publicat ion	Study year	Study design	Country	Income group	ARTs	Thres hold	Adherence measure	Sam ple	Stage
Turner[38]	1998	Abstract	NR	Obs.	USA	High	cART	80	Pharmacy- based	323	AN
Dabis[25]	1999	Journal	1995– 1998	RCT	Burkina Faso	Low	ZDV	80	Pill count	214	AN
Shaffer[69]	1999	Full	1996– 1997	RCT	Thailand	Middle	ZDV	100	Pill count	383	AN
Wiktor[68]	1999	Full	1996– 1998	RCT	Côte d’Ivoire	Middle	ZDV	100	Self-reported	134	AN
Laine7	2000	Full	1993– 1996	Obs.	USA	High	ZDV	80	Pharmacy- based	549	AN
Turner[39]	2000	Full	1993– 1996	Obs.	USA	High	ZDV	80	Pharmacy- based	292	PN
Wilson[67]	2001	Full	1998	Obs.	USA	High	AZT	100	Pill count	247	AN
Chaovarindr[27]	2002	Abstract	1999– 2001	Obs.	Thailand	Middle	ZDV	100	Self-reported	350	AN
Ickovics[64]	2002	Full	1997– 1998	Obs.	USA	High	ZDV or cART	NR	MEMS	53	AN&P N
Durante[58]	2003	Full	1998	Obs.	USA	High	cART	100	Self-reported	63	AN
Kiarie[45]	2003	Full	1999– 2001	Obs./R CT	Kenya	Low	cART	80	Self-reported	61/63	AN
Stringer[44]	2003	Full	2000– 2001	RCT	Zambia	Middle	sdNV P	NR	Cord blood	98/10 3	AN
Zorilla[55]	2003	Full	NR	Obs.	USA	High	cART	100	Self-reported	37	AN
Lallemant[70]	2004	Full	2001– 2003	Obs//R CT	Thailand	Middle	ZDV	90	Pill count	724/7 21	AN
Chung[40]	2005	Full	2003	RCT	Kenya	Low	ZDV	100	Pill count	32	AN
Louis[42]	2005	Full	1999– 2004	Obs.	USA	High	cART	100	Self-reported	114	AN
Stringer[50]	2005	Full	2003	Obs.	Zambia	Middle	sdNV P	100	cord blood	1112	AN
Albrecht[63]	2006	Full	2001– 2003	Obs.	Zambia	Middle	sdNV P	100	Self-reported	711	AN
Shapiro[60]	2006	Full	2002– 2003	RCT	Botswana	Middle	ZDV	100	Self-reported	354/3 55	AN
Teldaldi[46]	2006	Full	1997– 1998	Obs.	USA	High	cART	100	Self-reported	29	PN
Bii[66]	2007	Full	2005	Obs.	Kenya	Low	sdNV P	100	NR	146	AN
Cohn[65]	2007	Full	2002– 2005	Obs.	USA	High	cART	95	Self-reported	149	AN&P N
Kingston[32]	2007	Full	2004– 2005	Obs.	UK	High	cART	100	NR	32	AN
Vaz[57]	2007	Full	2001– 2002	Obs.	Brazil	Middle	cART	95	Pill count	72	AN&P N
Bardequez[34]	2008	Full	2002– 2005	Obs.	USA	High	cART	100	Self-reported	445	AN&P N
Chi[28]	2008	Full	2005– 2007	RCT	Zambia	Middle	ZDV	100	pharmacy refills	355	AN
Chung[56]	2008	Full	2003– 2006	RCT	Kenya	Low	cART	NR	NR	58	AN&P N
Ciambrone[29]	2008	Full	2003	Obs.	USA	Middle	cART	100	Self-reported	17	AN
Demas[36]	2008	Full	1997– 1998	Obs.	USA	High	ZDV	NR	red blood cell	78	AN
Imbaya[30]	2008	Abstract	NR	Obs.	Kenya	Low	sdNV P/ ZDV	100	NR	326	AN
Peltzer[54]	2008	Full	2006– 2007	Obs.	South Africa	Middle	sdNV P	100	Self-reported	66	AN
Quava- Jones[26]	2009	Abstract	2002– 2008	Obs.	Trinidad & Tobago	High	cART	NR	Self-reported	461	AN & PN
Peltzer[49]	2010	Full	2008– 2009	Obs.	South Africa	Middle	sdNV P	100	Self-reported	815	AN
Barige[62]	2010	Full	2002– 2007	Obs.	Uganda	Low	sdNV P	100	Self-reported	102	AN
Chasela[59]	2010	Full	NR	RCT	Malawi	Low	cART	100	Self-reported	849	PN
Conkling[47]	2010	Full	1986– 1994	Obs.	Rwanda/ Zambia	Low/ Middle	sdNV P	100	Self-reported	185/3 19	AN
Kesho Bora[51]	2010	Full	2005– 2006	Obs.	Burkina Faso & Kenya	Low	ZDV/ sdNV P	100	Self-reported	116/3 19/12 7	AN
Kuonza[61]	2010	Full	2008	Obs.	Zimbabwe	Low	sdNV P	100	Self-reported	212	AN
Megazzini[43]	2010	Full	2005– 2006	RCT	Zambia	Middle	sdNV P	100	Cord blood	234/2 64	AN
Mellins[33]	2010	Full	2001– 2005	Obs.	USA	High	cART	100	Self-reported	309	AN&P N
Shapiro[37]	2010	Full	2006– 2008	Obs./R CT	Botswana	Middle	cART	100	Self-reported	170/2 85/27 5	AN
Stringer[74]	2010	Full	2007– 2008	Obs.	Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa & Zambia	Low & Middle	sdNV P	100	Blood concentration	739/ 196/ 663/ 670	AN
Caswell[73]	2011	Full	2004– 2007	Obs.	UK	High	cART	100	NR	73	AN
Kesho Bora[71]	2011	Full	2005– 2008	RCT	Burkina Faso, Kenya, South Africa	Low/Mid dle	cART	100	Self-reported	389/4 05/39 6	AN
Kirsen[35]	2011	Full	2008– 2009	Obs.	Tanzania	Low	cART	95	Pill count	86	AN&P N
Leisegang[75]	2011	Abstract	NR	Obs.	South Africa	Middle	cART	NR	Pharmacy- based	293	NR
Manenti[52]	2011	Full	2007	Obs.	Brazil	Middle	cART	NR	Self-reported	36	AN
Mempham[41]	2011	Full	2008	Obs.	South Africa	Middle	cART	95	Pill count	94	AN
Mirkuzie[48]	2011	Full	2009	Obs.	Ethiopia	Low	cART	100	Self-reported	282	AN
Peltzer[53]	2011	Full	2009	Obs.	South Africa	Middle	AZT	100	self-reported	AN: 139/ PN:6 07	AN
Thomas[72]	2011	Full	2003– 2009	RCT	Kenya	Low	ZDV	100	Pill count	522	PN

cART: combined antiretroviral therapy, sdNVP: single dose nevirapine, ZDV: Zidovudine; NR: not reported; AN: antepartum; PN: postpartum; MEMS: Medication Events Monitoring System; Obs: Observation studies; RCT: randomised controlled trial; NR: not reported