The potential of antiretroviral treatment (ART) to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV has increased the number of serodiscordant couples who are considering natural conception. We aim to describe the results of a protocol for reproductive counseling aimed at HIV serodiscordant couples who desire natural conception, in which the infected partner, the index case, is receiving suppressive antiretroviral treatment.A prospective cohort included all HIV serodiscordant couples attended a counseling program in the period 2002 to 2013 who opted for natural conception and met the following criteria: index case on ART with persistent plasma viral suppression for at least the previous 6 months, ART compliance over 95%, preserved immune status, undetectable HIV viral and proviral load in semen in male index cases, and absence of genitourinary infections and fertility problems in both members of the couple.Of the 161 HIV serodiscordant couples included, 133 with male index cases, 66% achieved at least 1 pregnancy, 18% a second one, and 5% a third pregnancy. A total of 144 natural pregnancies occurred and 107 babies were born. The pregnancy rate was 1.9 for each 100 acts of vaginal intercourse, and the mean time to conception was 6.1 months, both independently of the sex of the index case. No case of sexual or vertical HIV transmission occurred.In the absence of fertility problems and under controlled conditions, natural conception might be a safe and effective reproductive method for those HIV serodiscordant couples who choose this reproductive option.

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No external funding was used for this study. The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

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Cardiogenic shock (CS), as the most severe form of heart failure, is associated with very high mortality rates despite therapeutic advances in the last decades. Gender differences in outcomes have been widely reported regarding several cardiovascular diseases. The aim of our study was to evaluate potential gender disparities in clinical presentation, management, and in-hospital outcomes of all (n = 138) patients admitted to the Acute Cardiac Care Unit of a tertiary hospital from 2013 to 2019. Information on demographic characteristics, past medical history, haemodynamic and clinical status at admission, therapeutic management, and in-hospital outcomes was retrospectively collected. Women represented 31.88% of the cohort, were significantly older than the men and had a lower proportion of smokers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and previous acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Most CSs in both groups were AMI-related. Left ventricular ejection fraction at admission was higher in women, who were less likely to receive vasopressors. No differences were observed regarding mechanical circulatory support use and in-patient outcomes, with age being the only factor associated with in-hospital mortality on multivariate analysis.

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ObjectiveTo evaluate the prognostic impact of urgent cardiac surgery on the prognosis of left-sided infective endocarditis (LSIE) and its relationship to the basal risk of the patient and to the surgical indication.Methods605 patients with LSIE and formal surgical indication were consecutively recruited between 2000 and 2020 among three tertiary centres: 405 underwent surgery during the active phase of the disease and 200 did not despite having indication. The prognostic impact of urgent surgery was evaluated by multivariable analysis and propensity score analysis. We studied the benefit of surgery according to baseline mortality risk defined by the ENDOVAL score and according to surgical indication.ResultsSurgery is an independent predictor of survival in LSIE with surgical indication both by multivariable analysis (OR 0.260, 95% CI 0.162 to 0.416) and propensity score (mortality 40% vs 66%, p<0.001). Its greatest prognostic benefit is seen in patients at highest risk (predicted mortality 80%–100%: OR 0.08, 95% CI 0.021 to 0.299). The benefit of surgery is especially remarkable for uncontrolled infection indication (OR 0.385, 95% CI 0.194 to 0.765), even in combination with heart failure (OR 0.220, 95% CI 0.077 to 0.632).ConclusionsSurgery during active LSIE seems to significantly reduce in-hospital mortality. The higher the risk, the higher the improvement in outcome.

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