Mental health of HIV-seropositive women during pregnancy and postpartum period: a comprehensive literature review

Abstract

With growing numbers of HIV-seropositive (HIV+) women of child-bearing age and increased access to effective clinical protocols for preventing mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV, mental health-related factors have become increasingly relevant due to their potential to affect the women's quality of life, obstetric outcomes and risk of MTCT. This review synthesizes evidence from 53 peer-reviewed publications examining mental health-related variables in pregnant and postpartum HIV+ women. The presentation of results is organized by the level of socioeconomic resources in the countries where studies were conducted (i.e., high-, middle-, and low-income countries). It is concluded that psychiatric symptoms, particularly depression, and mental health vulnerabilities (e.g., inadequate coping skills) are widespread among pregnant HIV+ women globally and have a potential to affect psychological well-being, quality of life and salient clinical outcomes. The current body of evidence provides rationale for developing and evaluating clinical and structural interventions aimed at improving mental health outcomes and their clinical correlates in pregnant HIV+ women.

Fig. 1

is based on the QUOROM flow diagram [73]. It describes the number of articles retrieved, excluded, and included and the reasons and order in which articles are excluded. During the search, 2,395 articles were originally retrieved, 2229 articles were excluded based on review of title and publication type, 108 articles were excluded based on review of abstract, 7 articles were excluded after reading the paper and 2 articles were included after searching references. 53 articles in total are included in this review