AB0814 PREGNANCY COURSE ASSESSMENT IN PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATIC DISEASES COMPARED TO CONTROLS

Background: Rheumatic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthritis (SA) may occur among women of childbearing age. Adverse events during pregnancy including disease flare, preterm delivery, and neonatal or fetal death have been reported. Objectives: Our aim was to assess the impact of rheumatic diseases on the course of pregnancy. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study involving patients with RA (2010 ACR/EULAR criteria) and SA (2009 ASAS criteria) (study group) as well as healthy controls (control group) matched by age and gender. All women included had at least one pregnancy. Data were collected through telephonic interviews. We used the Student t test to compare the study group and the control group. Results: We enrolled 57 patients (30 RA and 27 SA) and 57 controls. The mean age in the study and the control groups were respectively 43.2 ± 8.2 years [26-48] and 37.5 ± 6 years. The mean chronic inflammatory rheumatisms duration was 13.81 ± 6.2 years. A history of primary sterility was found in 3 patients (1 RA and 2 SA) and none in the control group. The mean age during the first pregnancy was significantly higher in the study group (28 ± 6.2 years versus 24 ± 7 years in the control group) (p=0.01). Eight patients (5 RA and 3 SA) had a history of spontaneous miscarriage. A terminated pregnancy was noted in 3 patients (1 RA and 2 SA). Complications during pregnancy in the study group were gestational diabetes (0.3%), premature delivery (0.3), premature rupture of membranes (0.3%), abortion threat (0.3%) and pre-eclampsia (6%). Pregnancy was more associated with complications in the study group (p=0.05). Cesarean section was more used in the study group (28 patients versus 9 in the control group; p= 0.00). The main indications of cesarean section in the study group were macrosomia (11 patients), scar uterus (6 patients), sacroiliitis (4 SA patients), twin pregnancy (2 patients), and undetermined reasons (6 patients). Fetal presentation in the study group was the seat presentation (3%), top presentation (4%), face (2%), and forehead presentation (0.3%) with no significant difference with the control group. Complications of childbirth in the study group were hemorrhage of delivery (10.3%), cord widening (6.6%), perinatal asphyxia (4.9%), and dystocia (1.9%). However, no statistically significant differences were found between the two groups in the prevalence of complications of childbirth. During pregnancy, 5 patients were on salazopyrine, 2 on corticosteroids and, 1 on non-steroidal anti-inflammatories. Conclusion: Our study showed that pregnancies with rheumatic diseases were at increased risk of having maternal complications and adverse neonatal outcomes. Disclosure of Interests: None declared