Neonatal lupus - case series of a tertiary hospital

Abstract

Neonatal lupus (NL) is a very rare condition with an estimated incidence of 1 in 20.000 pregnancies. It is caused by the transplacental passage of autoantibodies anti-Ro/SSA, antiSa/SSB antibodies and/or anti-U1 RNP antibodies into the fetal circulation. The mother may be completely asymptomatic or have a known inflammatory rheumatic disease, such as Sjögren syndrome (SS) or Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). Clinical manifestations are diverse, being the most common cutaneous and cardiac. The authors present a case series of eight cases diagnosed with NL between January 2008 and December 2016 in a tertiary hospital and a brief revision of the literature.