To assess current clinical practices and barriers to implementing updated infant feeding guidelines for perinatal HIV exposure in the U.S., highlighting the significance of these guidelines.
Key Findings:
21% of respondents were PID specialists, and 79% were neonatologists.
64% of PID specialists supported breastmilk feeding from a virally suppressed parent with HIV compared to 42% of neonatologists.
Concerns about HIV transmission were the primary barrier to breastfeeding support, reported by 61% of PID specialists and 63% of neonatologists.
Less experienced neonatologists and those at nonacademic centers were less likely to offer breastmilk as a feeding option.
Only 35% of PID specialists and 28% of neonatologists practiced at centers with guidelines for feeding breastmilk from a parent with HIV.
Interpretation:
Concerns regarding perinatal HIV transmission significantly hinder breastfeeding support among healthcare providers, indicating a need for targeted interventions and policy changes.
Limitations:
The study's cross-sectional design limits causal inferences.
Responses may not fully represent the views of all practicing neonatologists and PID specialists in the U.S., potentially skewing the findings.
Conclusion:
Addressing persistent concerns about lactational HIV transmission is crucial for improving breastfeeding support in clinical practice, necessitating specific interventions.
A large audit of biomedical publications suggests fabricated references are increasingly appearing in peer-reviewed papers — often in ways that are difficult for reviewers and readers to detect.
