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Evidence summaries

Vaginal Disinfection for Preventing Mother-to-Child Transmission (Mtct) of HIV Infection

Vaginal disinfection is probably not effective for preventing MTCT of HIV infection. Level of evidence: "C"

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included two trials. The effect of vaginal disinfection on the risk of MTCT of HIV (OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.65-1.33, n=708), neonatal death (OR 1.38, 95% CI 0.30-6.33, n=111), and death after the neonatal period (OR 1.45, 95% CI 0.47-4.45, n=104) is uncertain. There was no evidence that vaginal disinfection increased adverse effects in mothers (OR 1.15, 95% CI 0.41-3.22), and evidence from one trial showed that adverse effects decreased in neonates (OR 0.14, 95% CI 0.07-0.31).

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by low quality of the larger study and by sparse data.

References

  • Wiysonge CS, Shey MS, Shang JD, Sterne JA, Brocklehurst P. Vaginal disinfection for preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2005 Oct 19;(4):CD003651. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords