Women at Risk for HIV Are Often Willing to Take PrEP for Pregnancy

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A considerable proportion of those offered the HIV prevention method went on Truvada when offered it before, during or after pregnancy.

August 22, 2016

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Women at risk for HIV who are interested in getting pregnant, actually pregnant or nursing often agree to take Truvada (tenofovir/emtricitabine) as pre-exposure prophylaxis when health care providers offer them PrEP, Reuters Health reports. Publishing their findings in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, researchers reviewed the medical charts of women who were at significant risk of contracting the virus and who were receiving health care at two medical centers in San Francisco and New York between 2010 and 2015. The women wanted to get pregnant, were pregnant or were breast-feeding.

The study identified 27 women who had a median age of 27. Twenty-six of the women had an HIV-positive male partner, while one had a male partner of an unknown HIV status who had sex with men.

Of the 24 women offered PrEP, 16 (two thirds) opted to start Truvada, including five of the eight who were not yet pregnant, 10 or 15 who were pregnant and the one who was nursing.

Everyone who was offered PrEP, regardless of whether they took it, stayed HIV negative. Of the three women who were not offered Truvada, one contracted the virus.

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