Guidelines for the care of pregnant women living with HIV and interventions to reduce perinatal transmission: executive summary.

OBJECTIVE: This guideline reviews the evidence relating to the care of pregnant women living with HIV and the prevention of perinatal HIV transmission. Prenatal care of pregnancies complicated by HIV infection should include monitoring by a multidisciplinary team with experts in this area.

OUTCOMES: OUTCOMES evaluated include the impact of HIV on pregnancy outcome and the efficacy and safety of antiretroviral therapy and other measures to decrease the risk of vertical transmission.

EVIDENCE: Published literature was retrieved through searches of PubMed and The Cochrane Library in 2012 and 2013 using appropriate controlled vocabulary (HIV, anti-retroviral agents, pregnancy, delivery) and key words (HIV, pregnancy, antiretroviral agents, vertical transmission, perinatal transmission). Results were restricted to systematic reviews, randomized control trials/controlled clinical trials, and observational studies published in English or French. There were no date restrictions. Searches were updated on a regular basis and incorporated in the guideline to June 2013. Grey (unpublished) literature was identified through searching the websites of health technology assessment and health technology-related agencies, clinical practice guideline collections, clinical trial registries, and national and international medical specialty societies.

VALUES: The quality of evidence in this document was rated using the criteria described in the Report of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (Table 1).