The impact of primary Sjogren's syndrome on pregnancy outcome: our series and review of the literature

Abstract

Objective: Firstly, to investigate the pregnancy outcome of women with primary Sjogren's Syndrome (pSS) in a case-control study; secondly, to perform a review of the literature in order to clarify if the pregnancy outcome is affected by pSS and influenced by the disease clinical onset.

Method of study: Thirty-four pregnancies with pSS and 136 controls were retrospectively collected.

Results: Six pregnancies occurred before the pSS diagnosis and 28 after the pSS diagnosis. Two cases were complicated by intrauterine atrio-ventricular block. A statistically significant increase of the rate of spontaneous abortions, preterm deliveries and cesarean section was found in pSS pregnancies. The mean neonatal birth weight and the mean neonatal birth weight percentile were significantly lower in the offspring of women with pSS in comparison to controls. Similar pregnancy outcome was observed in women with pSS diagnosis before and after the index pregnancy.

Conclusions: Women with pSS experienced complicated pregnancies more frequently than controls, regardless of the onset of the symptoms, showing that the immunological disturbance is present throughout the reproductive life.

Keywords: Autoimmune disease; Perinatal outcome; Pregnancy; Sjogren's syndrome.