PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - April Barnado
AU  - Lee Wheless
AU  - Anna K Meyer
AU  - Gary S Gilkeson
AU  - Diane L Kamen
TI  - Pregnancy outcomes among African–American patients with systemic lupus erythematosus compared with controls
AID  - 10.1136/lupus-2014-000020
DP  - 2014 Apr 01
TA  - Lupus Science & Medicine
PG  - e000020
VI  - 1
IP  - 1
4099  - http://lupus.bmj.com/content/1/1/e000020.short
4100  - http://lupus.bmj.com/content/1/1/e000020.full
SO  - Lupus Sci & Med2014 Apr 01; 1
AB  - Objective In a study of Gullah African–Americans, we compared pregnancy outcomes before and after systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) diagnosis to controls to test whether there is a predisease state that negativelyaffects pregnancy outcomes. Design Cases and controls reporting at least one pregnancy were included. Controls were all Gullah African-American females. We collected demographic, socioeconomic and pregnancy data. We modelled pregnancy outcome associations with case status using multiple logistic regression to calculate ORs. Results After adjustment for age, years of education, medical coverage and pregnancy number, compared with controls, cases were more likely to have any adverse outcome (OR 2.35, 95% CI 1.78 to 3.10), including stillbirth (OR 4.55, 95% CI 1.53 to 13.50), spontaneous abortion (OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.40 to 3.00), preterm birth (OR 2.58, 95% CI 1.58 to 4.20), low birth weight (OR 2.64, 95% CI 1.61 to 4.34) and preeclampsia (OR 1.80, 95% CI 1.08 to 3.01). The odds of adverse pregnancy outcomes all increased after SLE diagnosis compared with before diagnosis, even after adjustment for age, years of education, pregnancy number and medical coverage. Conclusion From a large cohort of African–American women, our findings suggest there may be a predisease state that predisposes to adverse pregnancy outcomes.