Objectives: We sought to describe the reproductive health of adolescent girls perinatally infected with HIV.
Methods: We estimated the incidence of first pregnancy, genital infections, and abnormal cervical cytology for 638 girls aged 13 years and older in the Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group protocol 219C.
Results: Thirty-eight girls became pregnant, for a first pregnancy rate of 18.8/1000 person-years; 7 of these girls had additional pregnancies (95% confidence interval [CI]=13.3, 25.7). Thirty-two pregnancies resulted in live births. All girls received antiretroviral therapy during pregnancy. One infant was HIV infected, 29 were uninfected, and 2 had unknown infection status, for a rate of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in infants with known infection status of 3.3% (95% CI=0.1, 18.6). Condylomata and trichomoniasis were the most frequent genital infections. Forty-eight (47.5%) of 101 girls with Papanicolaou test examinations had abnormal cervical cytology, including atypical cells of undetermined significance (n=18), low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (SIL; n=27), and high-grade SIL (n=3). Many abnormalities persisted despite intervention.
Conclusions: Pregnancy rates were lower and cervical abnormalities were higher than among non-HIV-infected adolescents. These findings underscore the importance of Papanicolaou tests and promotion of safer sexual practices in this population.