Doppler velocimetry indices of human immunodeficiency virus-positive pregnant women and their controls at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano.

Background: Nigeria is among the countries having a large number of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected people in Africa with growing number of HIV-positive children, mainly infected by their mothers. Traditional tests diagnose high-risk fetuses very late. Doppler sonography has a potential for detecting high at-risk fetus at a much early stage, so that appropriate measures could be instituted to improve outcomes. This study compared umbilical artery velocimetric parameters among HIV-positive women on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and their matched controls to determine the possible abnormalities and correlates.

Methodology: This was a comparative study that was conducted among HIV-positive pregnant women and their matched controls (HIV-negative pregnant women matched for gestational age and parity) at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital. History and physical examination, transabdominal ultrasound examination were done on each subject to obtain the basic obstetric parameters. Detailed evaluations of the umbilical arteries on gray scale and duplex Doppler protocols using a 3.5-MHz curvilinear transducer were also done. The data were analyzed using SPSS Version 19.0. Independent samples t-test was used for continuous data. Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test were used for categorical data. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: The mean age ± standard deviation (SD) was 30.8 ± 5.50 and 27.6 ± 5.34 for HIV and control groups, respectively. The mean amniotic fluid indices and that of estimated fetal weight for the HIV and control groups showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups. The mean (±SD) umbilical artery diameter of the HIV-infected mothers is wider than their negative controls.

Conclusion: The study showed no statistically significant difference between the Doppler indices of HIV-positive pregnant women on HAART and their matched controls.