Does the medical record available during labor and delivery provide test results for HIV and other STDs?
Rachel A. Royce, PhD, MPH, School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, CB# 7400, McGavran Greenberg Hall, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27278, (919) 966-7440, Rachel_Royce@unc.edu and Emmanuel B. Walter, MD, MPH, Duke Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Unit, Duke University Medical Center, 4020 N. Roxboro Rd, Durham, NC 27704. Justification: Labor and delivery room knowledge of womens HIV serostatus is required to offer appropriate antiretroviral treatment. Objectives: Determine medical record documentation of prenatal HIV serostatus at delivery and compare to womens report of prenatal testing and to other STDs documentation. Methods: We obtained prenatal and hospital admission medical records for 398 women delivering in 1997 at four hospitals in central North Carolina whom we had interviewed within 24 to 48 hours of delivery. Results: Medical records documented that 42% had HIV seronegative test results during pregnancy (prenatal tests
