Behçet's disease and pregnancy

Abstract

Our study suggests that pregnancy does not have a deleterious effect on the course of BD and may possibly ameliorate its course. However, it seems that BD may adversely affect pregnancy. The miscarriage rate was higher, and the pregnancy complications and cesarean section rates were significantly elevated.

Behçet's Disease and Pregnancy

“…The median dosage of corticosteroids was 12.5 mg/day (IQR [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Six patients received immunosuppressive drugs at the onset of pregnancy: 4 patients were treated with azathioprine (3 for severe ocular lesions, 1 for previous CNS involvement), 1 patient was treated with cyclophosphamide for severe CNS, and 1 other patient received thalidomide for ocular involvement of BD at the onset of pregnancy.…”

“…Interestingly, of the 7 patients with obstetric complications, 5 had a history of venous thrombosis in BD prior to pregnancy (deep vein thrombosis [DVT], alone [n ϭ 2] or associated with dural sinus thrombosis [n ϭ 2]; pulmonary Comparison with series from the literature. Six series analyzing the interaction between BD and pregnancy have been published (10,(19)(20)(21)(22)26) and also were recently reviewed (29). By adding the data provided in the literature to those obtained in our study, a series of 279 pregnancies in 159 patients was available for analysis.…”

“…We added relevant articles that were not identified using this strategy but were present in the reference list of other studies. In total, 6 series with more than 2 patients were analyzed (10,(19)(20)(21)(22)26), along with one recent review of the literature (29).…”

“…Severe neurologic or vascular disease flares have also been reported (12)(13)(14), leading investigators to raise the question of whether the outcome of the pregnancy can be affected by BD (15)(16)(17)(18). For example, the rate of miscarriage was higher in some series (occurring in 20.7% of 77 pregnancies in patients with BD versus 6.6% of 288 pregnancies in control patients) (19), which contrasts with the results of other studies (20)(21)(22). Finally, treatment of BD during pregnancy is an important issue because of possible adverse effects that may also affect pregnancy outcome.…”

“…Finally, treatment of BD during pregnancy is an important issue because of possible adverse effects that may also affect pregnancy outcome. Nonetheless, observational studies of pregnant women with BD remain sparse and consist mainly of small series or case reports (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27).…”