Care of the HIV-Exposed Child—To Breast Feed or Not?

Abstract Background HIV is a major contributor to infant mortality. A significant gap remains between the uptake of infant and maternal antiretroviral regimens and only a minority of HIV-exposed infants receives prophylaxis and safe infant feeding. Losses to follow-up of HIV-exposed infants are associated with shortcomings of facility-based PMTCT models with weak community support of linkages. Use of mobile phones offers an opportunity for improving care and promoting retention assessed by timely attendance of scheduled appointments for the mother-baby pairs and achievement of an HIV-free generation. The objective of this study was to compare self-reported adherence to infant Nevirapine (NVP) prophylaxis and retention in care assessed by timely attendance of scheduled appointments over 10 weeks in HIV exposed infants randomized to 2-weekly mobile phone calls (intervention) versus no phone calls (control). Methods In this open label randomized controlled study, one hundred and fifty HIV infected women drawn from 3 health facilities in Western Kenya and their infants were randomly assigned to receive either phone-based reminders on PMTCT messages or standard health care messages (no calls) within 24 h of delivery. Women in the intervention arm continued to receive fortnightly phone calls. At 6- and 10-weeks following randomization we collected data on infant adherence to Nevirapine, mode of infant feeding, early HIV testing and retention in care in both study arms. All analyses were intention to treat. Results At 6 weeks follow-up, 90.7% (n = 68) of participants receiving phone calls reported adherence to infant NVP prophylaxis, compared with 72% (n = 54) of participants in the control group (p = 0.005). Participants in the intervention arm were also significantly more likely to remain in care than participants in the control group [78.7% (n = 59) vs. 58.7% (n = 44), p = 0.009 at 6 weeks and 69.3% (n = 52) vs. 37.3% (n = 28), p < 0.001 at 10 weeks]. Conclusions These results suggest that phone calls are potentially an important tool to improve adherence to infant NVP prophylaxis and retention in care for HIV-exposed infants. Trial registration PACTR202007654729602. Registered 6 June 2018 - Retrospectively registered, https://pactr.samrc.ac.za/TrialDisplay.aspx?TrialID=3449

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Relationship between obesity and lower rates of breast feeding initiation in regional Victoria, Australia: an 8-year retrospective panel study

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2020-044884 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. e044884

Author(s):

Melanie Rae Bish ◽

Fiona Faulks ◽

Lisa Helen Amir ◽

Rachel R Huxley ◽

Harold David McIntyre ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breast Feeding ◽

Mode Of Delivery ◽

Panel Study ◽

Multivariable Analysis ◽

Morbidly Obese ◽

Hospital Data ◽

Targeted Interventions ◽

Live Births ◽

Breast Feed ◽

Over Time

ObjectivesUsing routinely collected hospital data, this study explored secular trends over time in breast feeding initiation in a large Australian sample. The association between obesity and not breast feeding was investigated utilising a generalised estimating equations logistic regression that adjusted for sociodemographics, antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum conditions, mode of delivery and infant’s-related covariates.DesignPopulation-based retrospective panel.SettingA regional hospital that serves 26% of Victoria’s 6.5 million population in Australia.ParticipantsAll women experiencing live births between 2010 and 2017 were included. Women with missing body mass index (BMI) were excluded.ResultsA total of 7491 women contributed to 10 234 live births. At baseline, 57.2% of the women were overweight or obese, with obesity increasing over 8 years by 12.8%, p=0.001. Although, breast feeding increased over time, observed in all socioeconomic status (SES) and BMI categories, the lowest proportions were consistently found among the obese and morbidly obese (78.9% vs 87.1% in non-obese mothers, p<0.001). In the multivariable analysis, risk of not breast feeding was associated with higher BMI, teenage motherhood, smoking, belonging to the lowest SES class, gravidity >4 and undergoing an assisted vaginal or caesarean delivery. Compared with women with a normal weight, the obese and morbidly obese were 66% (OR 1.66, 95% CI 1.40 to 1.96, p<0.001) to 2.6 times (OR 2.61, 95% CI 2.07 to 3.29, p<0.001) less likely to breast feed, respectively. The detected dose–response effect between higher BMI and lower breast feeding was not explained by any of the study covariates.ConclusionThis study provides evidence of increasing breast feeding proportions in regional Victoria over the past decade. However, these proportions were lowest among the obese and morbidly obese and those coming from the most disadvantaged backgrounds suggesting the need for targeted interventions to support breast feeding among these groups. The psychosocial and physiological associations between obesity and breast feeding should further be investigated.

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