Review
Pregnancy in systemic lupus erythematosus
C C Moka, R W S Wongb
a Department of
Medicine and Geriatrics, Tuen Mun Hospital, Hong Kong, b Department of Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital,
Hong Kong
Correspondence to: Dr Chi Chiu Mok, Department of Medicine and Geriatrics, Tuen Mun Hospital, New Territories, Hong Kong ccmok{at}netvigator.com
Submitted 1 March 2000;
Accepted 14 August 2000
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease
that predominantly affects women of reproductive age. Pregnancy and its
outcome is a major concern to most SLE patients. Queries regarding the
risk of disease flares during pregnancy, chance of fetal loss, and the
safety of various drugs are often raised. With the improvement in the
understanding of the pathogenesis of SLE and the judicious use of
immunosuppressive drugs, better disease control can now be achieved and
SLE patients should not be deprived of the opportunity for bearing
children. Prepregnancy counselling and close collaboration with other
specialists such as the obstetricians and the perinatologists is
essential in optimising the maternal and fetal outcome in lupus
pregnancies. In this review, important issues regarding the fertility
rate, optimal timing of conception, risk of disease flares during lupus
pregnancy, pregnancy course, fetal outcome, safety of various drugs
used for disease control during pregnancy and lactation, and
contraceptive advice are discussed.
Keywords: systemic lupus erythematosus; pregnancy; flare; hormone
© 2001 by The Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine
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