LAUSR

Introduction Antiretroviral regimens used for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have shown benefits. However, combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) for the mother and infant have shown higher rates of adverse pregnancy outcomes. The objective of this research is to characterise the gestational outcome of infants born to HIV-positive mothers receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in a tertiary maternity unit through the evaluation of the clinical, anthropometric and epidemiological profile of the babies at birth. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out on HIV positive pregnant women at the Januário Cicco Maternity School (MEJC), whose childbirths occurred in the period from January 2010 to December 2014, being included 82 mothers and 84 babies. The research will continue in the year 2017. Results The group of mothers selected had a mean age of 29.5 years and had their children with a mean gestational age of 36.7 weeks. Of these, 3.6% received a triple therapeutic regimen with combination of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) +2 protease inhibitors (PI), 4.9% received regimen with 2 NRTI +1 Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor and 91.5% received quadruple regimen with 2 NRTI +2 PI. According to the information collected in the present study, only 17.8% of the babies were born prematurely. As for anthropometry, 22.6% were born with low weight; 28.6% had cephalic perimeter and 15.5% length below the lower limits considered normal; and 98.8% of the babies reached. Conclusion This type of characterisation is fundamental in a scenario where changes in the neonatal characteristics observed in the study generate a cost for maternal and child health, involving economics and management aimed at a specific follow-up of HIV positive mothers and their children exposed to the virus and to HAART during gestation. For this reason, it is necessary the specialised and multiprofessional clinical follow-up for the binomial in question.