According to a recently published study in PLoS One, HIV-positive women who are receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) are twice as likely to become pregnant as those not receiving ART.

The study was conducted among Sub-Saharan African women who were enrolled in the Mother-to-Child Transmission-Plus (MTCT-Plus) Initiative, which is an HIV treatment program for women and children.

Of the 4,531 women studied, 589 pregnancies were recorded, where 244 pregnancies occurred among women not receiving ART and 345 pregnancies among women receiving ART.

The researchers of this study wanted to explore this topic because many of the patients receiving ART in Sub-Saharan Africa are women of childbearing age. Approximately 15 percent to 30 percent of babies born to women who are HIV positive will acquire HIV if the mother is not being treated while pregnant. In 2008, nearly 430,000 children under the age of 15 were diagnosed with HIV. Most of these diagnoses were as a result of mother-to-child transmission, and over 90 percent were diagnosed in Africa.

The results are potentially a concern in Africa, since mother-to-child transmission is one of the principle methods of spreading HIV there. In developed countries such as the United States, mother-to-child transmission can almost always be prevented if the mother’s HIV status is known.

The cause for the relationship between ART and pregnancy are not known; however, the researchers suspect that behavioral causes, such as women feeling healthier, may lead to them feeling more inclined to become pregnant.

The authors did not report the rate of mother-to-child transmission among study participants.

Recent studies have shown that mothers receiving ART are not putting their babies at risk for harmful side effects such as impaired mental and motor functioning.

According to a study published in the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, out of 1,840 children born between 1993 and 2006, the 92 percent whose mothers were receiving ART during their pregnancies did not have lower mental and motor functioning than the 8 percent whose mothers were not receiving ART during their pregnancies (see related news).

Although such results are encouraging, further research into this field is still necessary, especially in areas such as Sub-Saharan Africa where nearly 60 percent of all HIV and AIDS patients are women of childbearing age.

Moreover, further studies have shown that many HIV-positive women have plans to become pregnant in the future (see related Beacon News). According to a study conducted in Ontario, Canada, 69 percent of women enrolled in the study desired to become pregnant, and 58 percent intended to become pregnant.

Such statistics point to the need for further research regarding how infants are affected by their mothers’ HIV status and by the treatments their mothers are receiving.

For more information, please see the PLoS One Web site.