Background: Some risk factors for mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV have been identified. To further reduce MTCT, other risk factors were evaluated.
Materials and methods: A retrospective study on early infant diagnosis was conducted. Two-sided chi-square test was used to assess associations with infant HIV status.
Results: A total of 15 233 HIV-infected mothers and 15 404 infants were recruited. MTCT rate was 9.34%. Only 3.8% of infants born to mothers on antiretroviral treatment were infected. Under nevirapine, 4.1% of infants were infected. MTCT increased with infant' age at testing. Younger mothers tend to transmit more HIV (P = 0.003). More children were infected in single pregnancies compared with multiple pregnancies, P < 0.001. There were more infections in male-female twins' sets (P = 0.037).
Conclusions: Maternal age, type of pregnancy and twins' sets are new MTCT risk factors. Strategies to further decrease transmission through family planning, pre/post natal consultations and clinical practices are needed.
Keywords: ART; Vertical transmission; feeding option; maternal and infant age; single and multiple pregnancies; twin sets.
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