1344. Infectious Morbidity and Mortality of HIV-Exposed, Uninfected Infants Compared with HIV-Unexposed Uninfected Infants in Botswana


 
 
 Studies have shown increased risk for infection-related hospitalizations among infants HIV-exposed-uninfected (HEU) compared to infants HIV-unexposed-uninfected (HUU). However, limited data exist during an era of expanded antiretroviral therapy (ART) and improved healthcare access in pregnancy.
 
 
 
 The Tshilo Dikotla study prospectively enrolled pregnant women ≥ 18 years old, both living with HIV (WLHIV) and HIV-seronegative, in Botswana, following mother-infant pairs through 3 years postpartum. Pregnant WLHIV received tenofovir/lamivudine or emtricitabine plus efavirenz or dolutegravir. For this analysis, the primary outcome, infectious morbidity, was hospitalization or death due to an infectious cause for infants in the first 12 months of life. Log-binomial models were fit to assess the association between in utero HIV exposure status and infectious morbidity. Subgroup analysis among infants HEU was performed to assess associations between timing of maternal ART initiation (pre-conception vs. during pregnancy) and infant infectious morbidity.
 
 
 
 Of 464 infants, 314 (67.7%) were HEU. Maternal age was higher among WLHIV (30.3 vs. 24.6 years; p < 0.01), as was gravidity (3.0 vs.1.0; p < 0.01). The proportion of WLHIV reporting senior secondary or tertiary education was lower (43.3% vs 72.0%; p< 0.01). A total of 35 (7.5%) infants were hospitalized/died due to infectious causes [26 (8.3%) HEU vs. 9 (6.0%) HUU (p=0.38)]. The most frequent infections were pneumonia and diarrhea/gastroenteritis. There was no significant difference in infectious morbidity by infant HIV exposure status [adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR), 1.17; 95% Confidence Interval (CI), 0.49, 2.81] after adjusting for maternal age, gravidity, income, and education. No association was found between timing of maternal ART initiation and infectious morbidity (aOR 0.60; 95% CI, 0.25, 1.40) among infants who were HEU, after additionally adjusting for maternal CD4 count and HIV viral load.
 Characteristics of infants by in utero HIV exposure status
 
 
 
 In this small sub-Saharan African cohort, no detectable associations were observed by infant HIV exposure status or timing of maternal ART initiation and infant infectious morbidity. Larger studies are needed to confirm these findings.
 
 
 
 All Authors: No reported disclosures.
