Ezeonu Nwamaka Alexandra, Olawepo John Olajide, Okezie Uche, Egbo Emmanuel, Itanyi Ijeoma Uchenna, Aliyu Ahmad, Onyeka Tonia C, Olakunde Babayemi Oluwaseun, Imarhiagbe Collins, Orafa Stephen Tersoo, Cheure Samuel, Akpan Uduak, Ezeanolue Echezona Edozie
IVAN Research Institute, University of Nigeria, Enugu, Nigeria.
Department of Public Health and Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
PLOS Glob Public Health. 2025 Apr 16;5(4):e0004028. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0004028. eCollection 2025.
Nigeria has a high burden of mother to child transmission (MTCT) of HIV. There is paucity of large-scale prospective cohort studies to provide insight into the reasons for the abysmal MTCT indices. This paper describes the baseline characteristics of women living with HIV who signed consent to participate in future clinical or implementation trials. The Nigeria Implementation Science Alliance (NISA) developed an open multicentre prospective cohort of women of reproductive age living with HIV, drawn from 12 facilities across the six geo-political regions of Nigeria. Research Electronic Data Capture system was used for the informed consent process. Socio-demographic and clinical information of participants were accessed through the clinics' Electronic Medical Records. We calculated descriptive statistics, summarizing categorical variables using frequencies and percentages. Numerical variables were summarized using means and standard deviations for normally distributed, and median and interquartile ranges for skewed variables. We recruited 18,210 women living with HIV. Eighty-one percent (14,777/18,210) had their data extracted from the EMR. Data of 10,996 women were analysed. The mean age was 37.4 ± 7.2 years, with 85% in age groups ≥30-39 years. The median time since HIV diagnosis was 8 years (IQR 3-11 years) while the median length of time on ART was 6 years (IQR 3-10 years). For women who had a record of WHO clinical staging and most current viral load, majority (80%) were in WHO stage 1 while two thirds (68.0%) had viral load of <20 copies/mm3. Almost all women (94%) were on first-line antiretrovirals, with none on the third-line regimen. This unique cohort in Nigeria that will provide researchers with a platform to propose and answer several research questions about the health of women and infants providing policymakers with information on maternal and child health in Nigeria.
尼日利亚母婴传播艾滋病毒（MTCT）的负担很重。缺乏大规模前瞻性队列研究来深入了解MTCT指数极低的原因。本文描述了签署同意书参与未来临床或实施试验的艾滋病毒感染女性的基线特征。尼日利亚实施科学联盟（NISA）建立了一个开放的多中心前瞻性队列，纳入了尼日利亚六个地理政治区域12个机构的育龄艾滋病毒感染女性。研究电子数据采集系统用于知情同意过程。通过诊所的电子病历获取参与者的社会人口统计学和临床信息。我们计算了描述性统计数据，使用频率和百分比汇总分类变量。对于正态分布的数值变量，使用均值和标准差进行汇总，对于偏态变量，使用中位数和四分位数间距进行汇总。我们招募了18210名艾滋病毒感染女性。81%（14777/18210）的数据从电子病历中提取。对10996名女性的数据进行了分析。平均年龄为37.4±7.2岁，85%在30 - 39岁年龄组。自艾滋病毒诊断以来的中位时间为8年（四分位间距3 - 11年），而接受抗逆转录病毒治疗的中位时间为6年（四分位间距3 - 10年）。对于有世界卫生组织临床分期记录和最新病毒载量的女性，大多数（80%）处于世界卫生组织第1期，而三分之二（68.0%）的病毒载量<20拷贝/立方毫米。几乎所有女性（94%）都在接受一线抗逆转录病毒药物治疗，无人接受三线治疗方案。尼日利亚的这个独特队列将为研究人员提供一个平台，以提出并回答有关妇女和婴儿健康的几个研究问题，为政策制定者提供有关尼日利亚母婴健康的信息。
