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Improved Pregnancy Outcomes in SLE (2010–2020)

A retrospective cohort study has shown that outcomes in pregnant systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients has significantly improved in the last decade, but there still is a high risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes (APO).

A retrospective Danish SLE cohort was used to identify pregnancies in SLE patients from a single center between January 2010 and October 2020.

This included 66 pregnancies in 41 women.  APO's occurred in 65% of pregnancies; there were 47 live births, and 15 miscarriages. Outcomes were compared to a 1990–2010 SLE cohort.

Pregnancy outcomes by era

  2010 - 2020 1990 - 2010 p Value
Pre-term Births 7.58% 17.9% 0.07
Emergent Cesarean Sections 6.1% 15.5% 0.07
Mean Birth Weight (g) 3045 2780  
Gestational HTN 13.6% 23.8% 0.05
Prednisolone use 66.7% 35.7% 0.0002
Hydroxychloroquine use 73.4% 39.3% 0.0001

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Compared to 1990-2010, the more recent decade had fewer preterm deliveries and emergent caesarean sections; higher average birth weights, and more pregnancies and live births per year. Gestational hypertension was significantly reduced from 23.8% to 13.6% (p = .05). Significantly more patients were treated with prednisolone, hydroxychloroquine and acetylsalicylic acid in 2010–2020.

Although there were fewer APOs in the 2010–2020 cohort, SLE pregnancy still carries a high risk of APO.

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Disclosures
The author has no conflicts of interest to disclose related to this subject