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Incidence of Depression Found to Be High in HIV-Infected Pregnant Women: Presented at ACOG

By Maggie Schwarz

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- May 11, 2006 -- A study of pregnant women infected with HIV found a very high incidence of depression in this population, researchers reported here at the 54^th Annual Clinical Meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).

Amy B. Levine, MD, associate professor of obstetrics/gynecology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, discussed the findings in a presentation on May 9^th.

Dr. Levine and colleagues conducted their study to determine the usefulness of screening for depression in HIV-infected pregnant women. They enrolled 43 women infected with HIV and receiving prenatal care at an inner-city HIV/AIDS clinic and who agreed to participate in the study.

The women were given the 21-item Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), a screening tool to detect depressive symptoms.

Forty percent of the women had a history of sexual abuse or domestic violence and 42% had a history of substance abuse, while 49% had a history of psychiatric illness.

"Fifty-eight percent of our cohort of pregnant HIV-infected women scored positive for depression using the screening tool, Dr. Levine said.

Median and mean BDI scores were 13 and 17, respectively (range, 0 to 55). Of those that screened positive, 32% had no prior history of psychiatric illness.

Comparing those who were diagnosed with HIV infection during pregnancy with those diagnosed before pregnancy, the mean and median BDI scores were higher when HIV infection was diagnosed during pregnancy (24.1 vs. 15.0 and 21.0 vs. 10.0, respectively). This was also the case for the percentage of positive screens (64% vs. 56%), although these differences were not significant.

Dr. Levine asserted that 58% of women scoring positive on the tool is very high compared wit the 18% to 19% previously reported for HIV-infected nonpregnant women.

She stressed that depression is associated with decreased adherence to medical treatment and recommended routine depression screening in HIV-infected women who are pregnant. She said that the risk of HIV transmission from mother to child is less than 2% if viral load is reduced to an undetectable level prior to delivery.


[Presentation title: Screening for Depression in HIV-Infected Women in Pregnancy. Abstract p. 42S]

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