Pregnancy outcomes and contraceptive use in women with rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common chronic autoimmune disorder that has a female predominance and commonly affects women of childbearing age, it is shown to remit during pregnancy in most studies and improve in about half of the patients when assessed with objective disease activity measurements. To assess the pregnancy outcomes in women with rheumatoid arthritis prior and after diagnosis and compare it with women with no chronic illness. To evaluate contraceptive practices and correlated contraceptive method efficacy with use of concomitant rheumatic medications. (Methotrexate, leflunomide). A total of 100 female patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis according to ACR/EULAR 2010 classification criteria were compared with apparently healthy female controls matching in age in this case- control study. Data was collected by questionnaires and interview. The questionnaires included demographic data and pregnancy outcomes, mode of delivery, contraceptive methods used by patients with the current use of methotrexate and leflunomide. The mean age for the patients and controls were 38.4+5.1 and 36.7+4.5 years respectively. The live births significantly decreased in female patients with rheumatoid arthritis in compare with controls and before diagnosis (p 0.010, p 0.002 respectively).