Sir.—To evaluate the effects of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection on pregnant women and their offspring, we reviewed pregnancy outcome in 58 intravenous (IV) drug users of known HIV serostatus delivered at Women and Infants Hospital, Providence, RI, during a 3-year period. The study was limited to IV drug users because drug abuse has profound adverse effects on pregnancy outcome,1 and it is a major confounding factor in any study that addresses the influence of HIV infection on pregnancy.
Subjects and Methods.—From a review of medical records for all pregnant women who were tested for HIV at Women and Infants Hospital between March 1985 and February 1988, 58 women were identified who gave a history of IV drug abuse. Blood was tested for anti–HIV antibodies by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, Ill) and confirmed by Western blot (Biorad, Clinical Division, Hercules, Calif) and/or an