Increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes in women with rheumatoid arthritis: a nationwide population-based study.
OBJECTIVE
Using a 3-year nationwide population-based database (2001-3), this study aims to examine the relationship between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and adverse pregnancy outcomes.


METHODS
The study used the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Dataset and birth certificate registry. In total, 1912 mothers with RA and 9560 matched comparison mothers were included. Separate conditional logistic regression analyses were carried out to explore the risk of low birthweight (LBW), preterm births, small for gestational age (SGA) infants, preeclampsia and delivery mode (vaginal vs caesarean section (CS)) for the study and comparison groups.


RESULTS
Regression analyses showed that the adjusted odds of LBW, SGA infants, preeclampsia and CS for women with RA were 1.47 (95% CI 1.22 to 1.78), 1.20 (95% CI 1.05 to 1.38), 2.22 (95% CI 1.59 to 3.11) and 1.19 (95% CI 1.07 to 1.31) times, respectively, that of comparison mothers.


CONCLUSIONS
Women with RA had an increased risk of LBW, SGA babies, preeclampsia and CS compared with unaffected women.
Lin
Herng-Ching
HC
School of Public Health, Taipei Medical University, 250 Wu-Hsing Street, Taipei 110, Taiwan.
Chen
Shu-Fen
SF
Lin
Hsiu-Chen
HC
Chen
Yi-Hua
YH
D000328:Adult; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001724:Birth Weight; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age; D007752:Obstetric Labor, Premature / Q000453:epidemiology; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult