Incidence of Intrauterine Growth Restriction among Pregnancies Complicated by Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Abstract Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease characterized by the presence of autoan-tibodies directed against nuclear antigens. It is a multisystem disease, and patients can present in many different ways. Women with systemic lupus erythematosus maintain fertility, although once they become pregnant, they have an increased frequency of adverse pregnancy outcomes including intrau-terine growth restriction. Aim of Study: To correlate the presence of lupus antico-agulant and anticardiolipin antibodies with the incidence of intrauterine growth restriction in pregnancies complicated by systemic lupus erythematosus. Patients and Methods: We included 56 pregnant patients with systemic lupus erythematosus coming for antenatal care at any gestational age during the period from June 2015 to June 2016 at Kasr El-Eini Hospital, Cairo University. We correlated the presence of lupus anticoagulant and anticardi-olipin antibodies with the incidence of intrauterine growth restriction among the study group. Results: Among the included 56 pregnant patients, 50 patients had live births (89.3%) and 6 patients had abortions (10.7%). Also we recorded abortion in 10.7%, preterm labor in 41.1%, fetal growth restriction in 21.4%, low birth weight (less than 2.5kg) in 28.5% and 3 neonates were admitted to neonatal ICU. There is significant relation between the presence of anticardiolipin IgG antibodies and the presence of current abortion (p-value 0.008). There is no significant relation between the presence of lupus anticoagulant (LAC) and the presence of intrauterine growth restriction or current abortion. Conclusion: Despite that pregnancies complicated with systemic lupus erythematosus carry a high risk for both mother and fetus there is a great improvement in the outcome of both.