Factors Associated with Transition of HIV Care Readiness Among Adolescents and Youth from a Specialty Pediatric HIV Clinic in the United States.

Transitioning from pediatric to adult services is known to be associated with worsening of health outcomes and decreased retention in care among adolescents and youth living with HIV (AYLHIV). We aimed to identify factors associated with HIV care transition readiness among AYLHIV in care at a pediatric HIV clinic in Washington, DC. This retrospective cohort study from June 2019 through January 2021 collected demographic and clinical characteristics from the clinic database. We adapted the Transition Readiness Assessment Questionnaire (TRAQ; scored 1-4; 1 being the lowest level of preparedness) to evaluate transition readiness over time. We analyzed data using two-sided unadjusted two-sample and paired t-tests and adjusted analysis of variance (ANOVA). We included 103 AYLHIV (50.49% female; 100% non-Hispanic Black/African American; mean age = 19.54 ± 2.78 years; 81.55% virally suppressed). Mean baseline TRAQ score (2.32 ± 0.78) was associated with age (p < 0.0001), gender (p = 0.033), mode of HIV transmission (p = 0.0005), viral suppression (p = 0.0033), and duration of HIV diagnosis (p = 0.012). AYLHIV diagnosed with HIV within the prior year experienced significantly greater mean improvement in transition readiness compared with those living with HIV for >10 years (p = 0.013). Adjusted for covariates, older age (p < 0.0001), undetectable viral load (p = 0.0008), and presence of mental health condition(s) (p = 0.020) were associated with higher TRAQ scores. Lower improvement in transition readiness among youth with a longer history of HIV suggests that AYLHIV with perinatally acquired HIV might require additional support than those with horizontally acquired HIV.

Prevention of Perinatal HIV Transmission in an Area of High HIV Prevalence in the United States.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the uptake of perinatal HIV preventive interventions by the risk of perinatal HIV transmission in mother-infant pairs in a high-HIV prevalence area in the US. STUDY DESIGN: This was a retrospective cohort study of mother-infant pairs with perinatal HIV exposure during 2013-2017 managed at a subspecialty pediatric HIV program in Washington, DC. We collected demographic data, maternal HIV history, delivery mode, maternal and infant antiretroviral drug (ARV) use, and infant HIV test results. We compared the uptake of recommended preventive interventions in low-risk (ie, mothers on antiretroviral therapy [ART] with viral suppression) and high-risk (mothers without ART or viral suppression) mother-infant pairs using the Pearson chi-square, Fisher exact, and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests and logistic regression. RESULTS: We analyzed 551 HIV-exposed infants (HEIs) and 542 mothers living with HIV. The majority of mothers received ARVs (95.5%), had HIV RNA ≤1000 copies/mL before delivery (81.9%), and received intrapartum zidovudine (ZDV; 65.5%). The majority of all HEIs were low risk (82.6%) and received postpartum ARVs (98.9%). Among the low-risk infants, 53.2% were delivered via cesarean delivery (CD), and 62.9% and 96.5% were administered intrapartum and postpartum ZDV, respectively. Among high-risk infants, 84.4% were delivered via CD, 78.1% received intrapartum ZDV, and 62.5% received combination ART. Nine high-risk infants acquired HIV perinatally. CONCLUSION: In an area of high HIV prevalence in the US, a large proportion of low-risk HEIs received intrapartum ZDV and were delivered via CD. We also observed missed opportunities for the prevention of perinatal HIV transmission.