Pregnant outcomes and prognosis of women complicated with systemic lupus erythematosus

Abstract

Objective To understand the clinical features, management, pregnant outcomes and prognosis of pregnant women complicated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods Retrospective analysis of 34 women (35 pregnancies) complicated with SLE were conducted and 26 of them were followed up for 0.5～15 years. Results (1) Out of the 35 pregnancies in these 34 women, 8 were in remission stage, 8 in the well-controlled period, 1 in active phase and 18 were primary onset (10 diagnosed during the pregnancy, and 8 after terminations) during the pregnancy. (2) Among those diagnosed during the pregnancy, 2 women in the remission group and 3 in the well-controlled group were in the active stage of SLE. The several most common clinical manifestations indicating SLE deterioration were proteinuria, fatigue, edema, hypertension, erythra and decreased serum C3. (3) In women with onset during the pregnancy, 7 (38.9%) presented with proteinuria, edema and hypertension which similar to symptoms of gestational hypertension. (4) The average maternal age of the remission group was much older than those women with onset during pregnancy [(32.4±5.5) years vs (26.6±3.9) years, P=0.034]. while the proportion of active lupus nephritis was lower than that of the later (1/4 vs 16/16, P=0.004) and the well-controlled group (1/4 vs 6/6,P=0.033) during post-partum follow-ups. Conclusions Pregnancy prompted lupus nephritis has nothing to do with maternal age, but the stage of SLE. Patients who conceived in the remission stage are the least likely to have nephritic damage. Although women with onset during the pregnancy is relatively young, they are expected to have more serious renal damage and poor prognosis. Key words: Pregnancy complications; Lupus erythematosus, systemic; Lupus nephritis; Pregnancy outcome