Objectives: The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of and risk factors for hepatitis C or B virus (HCV or HBV) coinfection among HIV-infected pregnant women, and to investigate their immunological and virological characteristics and antiretroviral therapy use.
Methods: Information on HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) positivity and HCV antibody (anti-HCV) was collected retrospectively from the antenatal records of HIV-infected women enrolled in the European Collaborative Study and linked to prospectively collected data.
Results: Of 1050 women, 4.9% [95% confidence interval (CI) 3.6-6.3] were HBsAg positive and 12.3% (95% CI 10.4-14.4) had anti-HCV antibody. Women with an injecting drug use(r) (IDU) history had the highest HCV-seropositivity prevalence (28%; 95% CI 22.8-35.7). Risk factors for HCV seropositivity included IDU history [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 2.92; 95% CI 1.86-4.58], age (for > or =35 years vs. <25 years, AOR 3.45; 95% CI 1.66-7.20) and HBsAg carriage (AOR 5.80; 95% CI 2.78-12.1). HBsAg positivity was associated with African origin (AOR 2.74; 95% CI 1.20-6.26) and HCV seropositivity (AOR 6.44; 95% CI 3.08-13.5). Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) use was less likely in HIV/HCV-seropositive than in HIV-monoinfected women (AOR 0.34; 95% CI 0.20-0.58). HCV seropositivity was associated with a higher adjusted HIV RNA level (+0.28 log(10) HIV-1 RNA copies/mL vs. HIV-monoinfected women; P=0.03). HIV/HCV-seropositive women were twice as likely to have detectable HIV in the third trimester/delivery as HIV-monoinfected women (AOR 1.95; P=0.049).
Conclusions: Although HCV serostatus impacted on HAART use, the association between HCV seropositivity and uncontrolled HIV viraemia in late pregnancy was independent of HAART.