Healio: Dolutegravir best option for women of child-bearing age with HIV
“Although dolutegravir was linked to a higher risk for neural tube defects among newborns, it prevented many more deaths and HIV transmissions among women than efavirenz, according to findings published in Annals of Internal Medicine. … [Caitlin M. Dugdale, MD, from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and colleagues] used a computer model to project the clinical outcomes of ART policies, including maternal and child deaths, sexual and perinatal transmission, and neural tube defects, for women with HIV of child-bearing age in South Africa. … In an accompanying editorial, Risa M. Hoffman, MD, MPH, from David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Lynne M. Mofenson, MD, from the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, wrote that the study by Dugdale and colleagues underscores the complexity of choosing treatment for pregnant women…” (4/1).

Additional coverage of the study and its implications for HIV treatment is available from MedPage Today and The Telegraph.