Background: Impaired glucose metabolism during pregnancy can result in a significant adverse pregnancy-outcomes. Previous studies have reported the contribution of ART to the impaired glucose tolerance and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in HIV-infected pregnant women.

Methods: PRISMA guideline was followed for this systematic review and meta-analysis. The STATA version 11 was employed to compute the pooled prevalence of GDM using the random effect model and 95% confidence interval. Subgroup analysis was conducted by geographical regions. Visual inspection of the funnel plot and Egger’s regression test statistic were used to show the publication bias.

Results: A total of 13,517 articles were identified, of which 21 publications met the inclusion criteria. The pooled prevalence of GDM among HIV-infected pregnant women was 4.42% (95% CI: 3.48; 5.35). According to the subgroup analysis, the pooled prevalence of GDM among HIV-infected pregnant women was 7.1% (95%CI: 3.38; 10.76) in Asia, 5.83% (95% CI: 2.61; 9.04) in Europe, 3.58% (95% CI: 2.67; 4.50) in America and 3.19% (95% CI: 2.89; 9.27) in Africa.

Conclusion: The pooled prevalence of GDM among HIV-infected pregnant women is expectedly high. Therefore, early screening of HIV-infected pregnant women for GDM is vital to reduce its complications related to pregnancy.

Protocol registration number: International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD42018090735.