Systemic sclerosis and pregnancy: obstetric complications and effect of pregnancy on the evolution of the disease

BACKGROUND: To describe the outcome of the pregnancy in patients with scler oderma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with scleroderma and control group were incl uded in this retrospective study. Two groups were differenced in pregnant p atients with scleroderma: pregnancy before scleroderma (A1) and pregnancy a fter scleroderma (A2). The presence of clinical problems during pregnancy a nd the outcome of scleroderma were collected in a questionnaire. Difference s in the frequencies of complications were analyzed using the U Mann Whitne y, the chi-square or Fisher's exact test when necessary. RESULTS: The frequency of global fetal complications was increased in patie nts group, but there was no significantly increased frequency when variable s were analyzed independently: number of births, miscarriages, fetal deaths , preterm births and low weight full term babys. There was no increased fre quency of renal crisis, hypertension or eclampsia. Differences between diff use and limited subsets were no observed. Improvement of schleroderma was s een in only 3 patients and worsening of skin thickening was experienced by 2 patients. CONCLUSIONS: The pregnant scleroderma patients are a group with high risk p regnancies and therefore well-supervised pregnancies are necessary.