Maternal Health and Tuberculosis Management
Summary
Tuberculosis remains a significant challenge in maternal health, particularly in regions with high disease burden and overlapping HIV prevalence. Pregnant women face an elevated risk of progressing from latent infection to active disease owing to immune modulation during gestation and the postpartum period. Untreated or poorly managed tuberculosis in pregnancy contributes to adverse outcomes including preterm birth, low birth weight, perinatal mortality and increased maternal morbidity. Effective management requires timely screening for both latent and active infection, careful selection of antituberculosis regimens compatible with pregnancy and breastfeeding, and coordination with antenatal services to mitigate risks to mother and child. Integration of tuberculosis interventions within routine prenatal and postnatal care underpins efforts to reduce transmission, improve obstetric outcomes and safeguard infant development.
Research from Nature Portfolio
No recent Nature Portfolio content available.
Maternal Health and Tuberculosis Management publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in maternal health and tuberculosis management across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Isoniazid Preventive Therapy (IPT): Administration of isoniazid to individuals with latent tuberculosis infection to prevent progression to active disease.
Latent Tuberculosis Infection (LTBI): A state in which Mycobacterium tuberculosis persists in host tissues without causing clinical symptoms or transmissible disease.
Interferon Gamma Release Assay (IGRA): A blood-based immunological test that measures interferon-γ release in response to M. tuberculosis-specific antigens to detect LTBI.
Low Birth Weight (LBW): A birth weight below 2,500 grams, associated with increased risk of neonatal morbidity and mortality.
Humoral Immunity: The component of adaptive immunity mediated by antibodies produced by B lymphocytes, essential for protection against extracellular pathogens including mycobacteria.
References
- Effect of pregnancy versus postpartum maternal isoniazid preventive therapy on infant growth in HIV-exposed uninfected infants: a post-hoc analysis of the TB APPRISE trial. EClinicalMedicine (2023).
- Impact of in-utero exposure to HIV and latent TB on infant humoral responses. Frontiers in Immunology (2024).
- Infant Exposure to Antituberculosis Drugs via Breast Milk and Assessment of Potential Adverse Effects in Breastfed Infants: Critical Review of Data. Pharmaceutics (2023).
- Tuberculosis in Pregnancy: A Review. Journal of Pregnancy (2011).
- Tuberculosis care for pregnant women: a systematic review. BMC Infectious Diseases (2014).
- Increased risk of active tuberculosis during pregnancy and postpartum: a register-based cohort study in Sweden. European Respiratory Journal (2019).
About these summaries
This Nature Research Intelligence Topic summary is created with the cited references and a large language model. We take care to ground generated text with facts, and have systems in place to gain human feedback on the overall quality of the process in line with our AI principles. We strive to create accurate and useful summaries for people unfamiliar with the research topic and that supports this goal. These pages are a beta release and will be updated as we learn how best to help people gain value from a research topic summary.
Turn complex research questions into confident strategic decisions
When you're under pressure to set direction, justify investment, or understand your competitive position, you need more than raw data — you need trusted insights you can act on.
Benchmark your performance against global peers using robust, methodologically sound analysis.
Combine quantitative metrics with qualitative expert insight to uncover strengths, gaps and emerging opportunities.
Gain tailored, decision-ready recommendations aligned to your strategic priorities.
Talk to us to learn more about our data dashboards and bespoke strategy reports.
Grow research skills, confidence and careers with training built for every stage of the research lifecycle.
Developed with Nature Portfolio journal Editors and internationally renowned experts. Discover three ways to learn:
Self-paced, online courses in convenient bite-sized units, covering key skills across scientific writing, publishing, grant writing, data analysis, and more.
Expert trainer-led workshops with hands-on exercises and real-time feedback across core research skills, delivered via interactive group sessions.
Editor-led workshops combining core principles in writing and publishing, personalised 1:1 feedback from Nature Portfolio Editors and hands-on exercises.
Explore course catalogues and workshop agendas, enquire about the options or request institutional pricing.