title: Clinicopathological features and HLA tissue typing in pemphigoid gestationis patients in Kuwait.
abstract: Pemphigoid gestationis (PG) is a rare autoimmune disease of pregnancy. We report a series of 22 cases of PG in Kuwait. They constituted 18% of all the autoimmune bullous diseases registered in our centre over a span of 11 years. PG was observed to be the third most common bullous disease in our region. Ninety-five per cent of the patients were of Arab ethnicity. The clinical features observed in our patients were comparable to those reported elsewhere. Systemic steroids (prednisolone 20-60 mg daily) remained the mainstay of treatment to control the active disease and an optimal dose of 20 mg of prednisolone was maintained throughout the pregnancy and immediate postpartum period. We observed a favourable outcome of pregnancies complicated by PG without any associated maternal or foetal morbidity. Kuwaiti patients with PG were observed to have a predominance of HLA-DR3 and DQ2 antigens. No predominance of HLA-DR4 antigen was observed.
authors.affiliation: As'ad Al-Hamad Dermatology Center, Al-Sabah Hospital, Kuwait. artinanda@hotmail.com
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nanda
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Al-Saeed
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dvorak
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Al-Muzairai
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Al-Sabah
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al-Arbash
authors.forename: Q A
authors.initials: QA
authors.lastname: Alsaleh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000208:ethnology / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000032:analysis*; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D007730:Kuwait; D006559:Pemphigoid Gestationis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000208:ethnology / Q000473:pathology*; D011239:Prednisolone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome
chemical_list: D005938:Glucocorticoids; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D011239:Prednisolone