High Lupus Flare and Complication Rates in Lupus Pregnancy Save

An incident cohort study from Denmark showed that 84 SLE pregnancies resulted in 62 live births.  Lupus disease activity strongly influenced maternal complications seen in half and fetal complications were observed in one-third of cases. SLE flares developed in 46.4%, pre-eclampsia in 8.3%, and the HELLP syndrome in 4.8% of cases. Higher rates of premature delivery (p = 0.0032), cesarean section (p = 0.015), pregnancy induced hypertension (p = 0.025), and intrauterine growth retardation (p = 0.003) were found. An unexpectedly high number of cardiac septum defects (9.7%) were observed.