Unplanned pregnancies and social and partner support during pregnancy in Spanish women living with HIV

Abstract

Objectives To describe prevalence and factors associated with unplanned pregnancies, and social and partner support during pregnancy among women from the Cohort of the Spanish HIV/AIDS Research Network (CoRIS). Methods We included all women recruited in CoRIS from 2004 to 2019, aged 18–50 years at recruitment who were pregnant during 2020. We designed a questionnaire, organized into the following domains: sociodemographic characteristics, tobacco and alcohol consumption, pregnancy and reproductive health, and social and partner support. The information was gathered via telephone interviews conducted from June to December 2021. We calculated prevalence of unplanned pregnancies as well as odds ratios (ORs) of association and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) according to sociodemographic, clinical and reproductive characteristics. Results Among 53 women who were pregnant during 2020, 38 (71.7%) answered the questionnaire. Median age at pregnancy was 36 years [interquartile range (IQR) 31–39], 27 (71.1%) women were born outside of Spain, mainly in sub‐Saharan Africa (39.5%) and 17 (44.7%) were employed. Thirty‐four (89.5%) women had been through previous pregnancies and 32 (84.2%) had experienced previous abortions/miscarriages. Seventeen (44.7%) women had shared with their clinician their desire to get pregnant. Thirty‐four (89.5%) pregnancies were natural and four used assisted reproductive techniques (in vitro fertilizations; one additionally used oocyte donation). Of 34 women with natural pregnancies, pregnancy was unplanned in 21 (61.8%) and 25 (73.5%) had information on how to become pregnant avoiding HIV transmission to the baby and partner. Women who did not seek advice from their physician about becoming pregnant had a significantly increased risk of unplanned pregnancy (OR = 71.25, 95% CI: 8.96–566.67). Overall, 14 (36.8%) women reported having low social support during pregnancy and 27 (71.0%) had good/very good support by their partner. Conclusions Most pregnancies were natural and unplanned and very few women had talked with their clinician about their desire to become pregnant. A high proportion of women reported low social support during pregnancy.