Pregnancy and Fetal Outcomes in Patients With Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome: A Nationally Representative Analysis

Abstract

Cardiovascular complications occur frequently in Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS). Pregnancy outcomes, however, are not well established in patients with EDS. We conducted a population-based, retrospective, cohort study using the national inpatient sample to compare pregnancy and fetal outcomes in patients with and without EDS, delivering between 2016 and 2019. Regression analysis was performed and adjusted for maternal age and race to compare both groups. Of the total 5,887,050 births in our cohort, 1016 were to patients with EDS. The EDS cohort was more likely to be older, white and have multiple comorbidities, such as smoking, mitral valve prolapse, and chronic hypertension. When we adjusted for age and race, patients with EDS were more likely than those without EDS to require Cesarean-section, develop postpartum hemorrhage, experience intrauterine growth restriction, and deliver preterm. In this study, patients with EDS experienced higher rates of maternal complications, however, aortic aneurysmal rupture was not among them.