Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes and Rheumatoid Arthritis: a Retrospective Matched Cohort Study

Background & objective: rheumatoid arthritis (ra) is an autoimmune-driven chronic systemic inflammatory disease. it could result in miscarriage, pre-eclampsia, and preterm labor, among other unfavorable pregnancy outcomes. thus, this study was conducted to investigate the adverse pregnancy outcomes in pregnant women with ra. materials & methods: two cohorts of pregnant women with and without ra referred to the ayatollah mousavi hospital's gynecology and obstetrics clinic in zanjan, iran, during 2019-2020 were enrolled in a retrospective matched cohort study. using their medical records, each participant completed a checklist of study variables. we used binary logistic regression, chi-square test, analysis of variance, and independent samples t-test to analyze data using spss v.23. results: the study included 280 pregnant women. the mean age of the ra and control group (pregnant women without ra) was 32.4 ± 6.6 and 29.5 ± 6.7 years, respectively. the most prevalent adverse outcome was spontaneous abortion (54, 19.28%), which was significantly higher in the ra group (25% vs. 13.6%, p= 0.015). cesarean section (24.3% vs. 10.7%, p= 0.003) and low birth weight (lbw) were both significantly higher in the ra group (15% vs. 5%, p= 0.005). ra increased the probability of spontaneous abortion, cesarean section, and lbw by more than 1.3 (odds ratio, 1.38; 95% ci, 0.45-5.46; p= 0.017), 2.2 (odds ratio, 2.24; 95% ci, 1.29-6.54; p =0.004), and 2.6 (odds ratio, 2.67; 95% ci, 1.86-7.05; p= 0.008) times, respectively. conclusion: pregnant women with ra are more likely to experience spontaneous abortion, cesarean section, and having lbw infants comparing to pregnant women without ra.