No. 354-Canadian HIV Pregnancy Planning Guidelines

Abstract

Objective: The objective of the Canadian HIV Pregnancy Planning Guidelines is to provide clinical information and recommendations for health care providers to assist Canadians affected by HIV with their fertility, preconception, and pregnancy planning decisions. These guidelines are evidence- and community-based and flexible and take into account diverse and intersecting local/population needs based on the social determinants of health.

Intended outcomes: EVIDENCE: Literature searches were conducted by a librarian using the Medline, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and Embase databases for published articles in English and French related to HIV and pregnancy and HIV and pregnancy planning for each section of the guidelines. The full search strategy is available upon request.

Values: The evidence obtained was reviewed and evaluated by the Infectious Diseases Committee of the SOGC under the leadership of the principal authors, and recommendations were made according to the guidelines developed by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care and through use of the Appraisal of Guidelines Research and Evaluation instrument for the development of clinical guidelines.

Benefits, harms, and costs: Guideline implementation should assist the practitioner in developing an evidence-based approach for the prevention of unplanned pregnancy, preconception, fertility, and pregnancy planning counselling in the context of HIV infection.

Validation: These guidelines have been reviewed and approved by the Infectious Disease Committee and the Executive and Council of the SOGC.

Sponsor: Canadian Institutes of Health Research Grant Planning and Dissemination grant (Funding Reference # 137186), which funded a Development Team meeting in 2016.

Keywords: HIV; fertility; infectious disease; pregnancy; prenatal.