Editorial: Safety of Immunosuppressive Drugs in Pregnant Women With Systemic Inflammatory Diseases

Abstract

In the U.S., it is estimated that more than 4.5 million patients are affected by systemic inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), psoriatic arthritis, other inflammatory arthropathy, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). (1-3) These diseases often occur in women of childbearing ages. The safety of treatment for systemic inflammatory diseases during pregnancy is a major concern for both patients and their providers. For patients with no or minimal symptoms of systemic inflammatory diseases at conception, discontinuing immunosuppressive therapy before or right after conception might be an ideal option. Patients with active disease, however, need to continue immunosuppressive drugs to control the disease even during pregnancy as the disease activity seems to be an important predictor of pregnancy outcome across different systemic inflammatory diseases.(4-6)