Prevalence and clinical characteristics of pulmonary TB among pregnant and post-partum women

SETTING: Antenatal care (ANC) and postpartum care (PPC) clinic in Manhica District, Mozambique. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of TB among pregnant and post-partum women and describe the clinical characteristics of the disease in a rural area of Southern Mozambique. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional TB prevalence study among pregnant and post-partum women recruited from September 2016 to March 2018 at the Manhica Health Care Center (MHC). We recruited two independent cohorts of women consecutively presenting for routine pregnancy or post-partum follow-up visits. RESULTS: A total of 1,980 women from the ANC clinic and 1,010 from the PPC clinic were enrolled. We found a TB prevalence of 505/100,000 (95% CI: 242-926) among pregnant women and 297/100,000 (95% CI: 61-865) among post-partum women. Among HIV-positive pregnant women, TB prevalence was 1,626/100,000 (95% CI: 782-2,970) and among postpartum HIV-positive women, TB prevalence was 984/100,000 (95% CI: 203-2,848). CONCLUSIONS: The burden of TB was not higher in postpartum women than in pregnant women. Most TB cases were detected in HIV-positive women. TB screening and diagnostic testing among pregnant and postpartum women attending ANC and PPC clinics in Manhica District is acceptable and feasible.