Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes in Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Abstract

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a complex autoimmune disease that may result in adverse pregnancy outcomes, posing a significant risk to both the mother and the fetus. The major purpose of the current study was to investigate the impact of SLE on the outcomes of pregnancy among women with SLE. This was a retrospective cohort study. Two groups of pregnant women, one with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and one without SLE, were included at the Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinic of Ayatollah Mousavi Hospital in Zanjan, Iran, from 2019 to 2020. Participants from both cohorts completed a checklist of study variables based on their medical records. The data were analyzed using binary logistic regression, chi-square test, analysis of variance, and independent samples t-test with SPSS software version 23. The research involved 400 pregnant women, with the mean age of the SLE and non-SLE groups being 36.68±4.90 and 29.46±6.56 years, respectively. The most prevalent adverse outcome was cesarean section (271 [67.8%]), significantly higher in the SLE group (54.5% vs. 10.0%, P=0.0001). The likelihood of experiencing spontaneous abortion, preterm labor, cesarean section, and LBW was increased by more than 6.5 times (odds ratio, 6.54; 95% CI, 2.22-19.27; P=0.001), 3.6 times (odds ratio, 3.67; 95% CI, 1.47-9.18; P=0.005), 18.9 times (odds ratio, 18.94; 95% CI, 6.46-55.49; P=0.0001), and 3 times (odds ratio, 3.04; 95% CI, 1.09-8.46; P=0.030) in individuals with SLE, respectively. Women with SLE have an increased likelihood of encountering spontaneous abortion, preterm labor, cesarean section, and delivering a low-birth-weight infant.