Viral suppression among pregnant adolescents and women living with HIV in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: a cross sectional study to assess progress towards UNAIDS indicators and Implications for HIV Epidemic Control

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of enrolled pregnant adolescents and women in a rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Characteristics	Study sample*
Age (median, IQR)	24 (20–28)
Socio-demographic characteristics
Age group in years (n. %)
14–19	131	24.0
20–24	184	33.8
25–29	108	19.8
≥ 30	122	22.4
Education levels (n. %)
Completed high school	289	53.6
Incomplete high school	250	46.4
Household income per month (n. %)
≤ ZAR 5000	245	46.0
> ZAR 5000	110	20.6
Don’t know	178	33.4
Marital status
Married	52	9.6
Unmarried	487	90.4
Family characteristics
Biological mother alive
Yes	372	69.0
No	163	30.2
Don’t know	4	0.7
Biological father alive
Yes	240	44.5
No	290	53.8
Don’t know	9	1.7
Behavioral characteristics
Age at first sex
At ≤ 16 years	63	11.6
At 17–18 years	107	19.6
At > 18 years	335	61.5
Refused	40	7.3
Total number of lifetime sex partners
1 partner	162	30.1
2 or more partners	346	64.2
Don’t know/Refused	31	5.8
Total number of current sex partners (n,%)
1 partner	520	96.5
2 or more partners	4	0.7
Refused	15	2.8
Alcohol use (n,%)
No	339	62.9
Yes	200	37.1
Drug use (n,%)
No	463	88.7
Yes	59	11.3
HIV Testing history
Last HIV test done (n, %)
> 12 months	78	14.6
≤ 12 months	456	85.4
Clinical characteristics
Pregnancies (n, %)
Current only	260	48.2
2 or more	277	51.4
The first time that you had sex, was your partner circumcised (n.%)
No	250	47.9
Yes	194	37.2
Don’t know	78	14.9
Ever had any STI symptoms (n. %)
Yes	159	29.5
No	380	70.5
HSV-2 antibodies (n, %)
Positive	337	61.8
Negative	208	38.2

^*Missing data were excluded from percentage calculation
^*Refused and don’t know data were included in percentage calculation
Age-group 14–19 years – although the inclusion criteria was 12 year and older, we did not have any participants that were less than 14 years
IQR = Interquartile range; ZAR = South African Rand (ZAR15 ~ US$1); ART = Antiretroviral therapy; STI = sexually transmitted infections
Ever had any STI symptoms = any symptoms of abnormal vaginal discharge, burning or pain when passing urine, or presence of any genital ulcers/warts; HSV-2 = Herpes simplex virus type 2

ISSN: 1742-4755