Women With Lupus Can Have A Safe Pregnancy
Findings presented Nov. 7 at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting in Chicago show that women with lupus can...
Findings presented Nov. 7 at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting in Chicago show that women with lupus can have a healthy and safe pregnancy. 
Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease that happens when your body's own immune system attacks your body tissues and organs. Inflammation caused by lupus can cause problems in your joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart and lungs, resulting in arthritis, fatigue and rashes. While lupus has been known to cause complications for pregnant women this new research, conducted at New York University School of Medicine shows that pregnancy is safe for most women who have lupus. The study included 333 women with lupus, following these women from their first trimester of pregnancy until three months after they gave birth. Very poor outcomes occurred in just 63 of the women, including 30 who delivered before 36 weeks or had newborns of small gestational size. 19 mothers experienced the death of their baby.
Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease that happens when your body's own immune system attacks your body tissues and organs. Inflammation caused by lupus can cause problems in your joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart and lungs, resulting in arthritis, fatigue and rashes. While lupus has been known to cause complications for pregnant women this new research, conducted at New York University School of Medicine shows that pregnancy is safe for most women who have lupus. The study included 333 women with lupus, following these women from their first trimester of pregnancy until three months after they gave birth. Very poor outcomes occurred in just 63 of the women, including 30 who delivered before 36 weeks or had newborns of small gestational size. 19 mothers experienced the death of their baby.
- 10% of the women with lupus developed preeclampsia, 10% experienced mild or moderate flares of lupus at 20 weeks and 8 percent experienced a flare at 32 weeks.
- Luckily, severe lupus flares-ups only occurred in around 3% of women.
- Overall, women with lupus who also experienced pregnancy complications were more likely to already have other health issues or risk factors. For example, high antibodies that increase the chances of developing a blood clot; increased lupus activity at 20 or 32 weeks; and general poor overall health.
