A Rosy Outlook for Pregnancy and Lupus

Medscape—April 20, 2017

Medscape interviewed Jane E. Salmon, MD, rheumatologist at Hospital for Special Surgery, on her research of pregnancy in those affected with lupus. Dr. Salmon spent about 15 years studying the causes for poor pregnancy outcomes and mechanisms that caused damage. In her study, she found that if the "disease is inactive and well-controlled, they can have normal pregnancies."

"The other message is that there is a subset of women with lupus who are at very high risk for serious pregnancy complications," said Dr. Salmon. She said if a patient has a history of hypertension, "her risk for a severe adverse pregnancy outcome is 94 percent."

For women with high risk pregnancies, Dr. Salmon advised other clinicians to "identify them, follow them carefully, and determine which interventions will help them."

"The onus is on us, their physicians, to counsel them as to when it's safe to become pregnant. It must be a dialogue that every physician, rheumatologist, primary care doc, and obstetrician has with her or his patients with lupus: Pregnancy can be fine, but try to conceive at a time when lupus disease is inactive."

Read the full article at Medscape.com