Morbidity that is associated with curettage for the management of spontaneous and induced abortion in women who are infected with HIV.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the morbidity that is associated with curettage for the management of abortions in women who were infected with human immunodeficiency virus compared with women who were not infected with human immunodeficiency virus.

Study Design: Women who were infected with human immunodeficiency virus (cases) and who underwent curettage for the management of scheduled and unscheduled abortions in the first half of pregnancy between January 1, 1993, and December 31, 2002, were identified. Women who were not infected with human immunodeficiency virus (control subjects) were matched 3:1 to cases for gestational age, type of abortion, and year of procedure. Medical records were reviewed to obtain demographic characteristics, gestational age, abortion characteristics, and procedure-related complications. Chi-squared test, Student t test, and Wilcoxon rank-sum test were used to determine statistical significance.

Results: Seventy-one women who were infected with human immunodeficiency virus (cases) and 213 women who were not infected with human immunodeficiency virus (control subjects) who underwent curettage during the study period were evaluated. Forty-eight cases (68%) and 146 control subjects (69%) underwent a scheduled curettage. Twenty-three cases (32%) and 66 control subjects (31%) underwent an unscheduled curettage for spontaneous or incomplete abortion. No significant differences were seen in age, gravidity, or parity. There were significantly more black women in the HIV-infected cohort (P < .001), which was representative of our human immunodeficiency virus population. The mean gestational age in the cases was greater than in the control subjects (10.9 +/- 4.2 weeks of gestation vs 9.2 +/- 3.1 weeks of gestation; P = .004). Procedure-related complications occurred in 10 of the women (14%) who were infected with human immunodeficiency virus who underwent curettage, compared with 9 of the women (4%) who were not infected with human immunodeficiency virus (P = .004). With the use of logistic regression, complication rates were unaffected by the difference in gestational age. Infectious complications did not differ between the 2 groups (P = .435).

Conclusion: There was a higher rate of procedure-related complications among women who were infected with human immunodeficiency virus and who underwent curettage for management of spontaneous and induced abortions. There was no increase in infectious morbidity in the women who were infected with human immunodeficiency virus.