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Miscarriage more common among women with RA
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In Norway, women with rheumatoid arthritis had a higher risk for miscarriage compared with the general population of women, according to study findings.
Researchers identified 1,578 women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 411,130 reference women from the national Medical Birth Registry of Norway (MBRN) between Dec. 1, 1998, and Dec. 31, 2009. Patients were excluded in the presence of evidence of other inflammatory or connective tissue diseases or vasculitis.
Maternal age and parity at the time of last birth were used to compare the two groups of women. Results of the analysis showed women with RA were significantly more likely to report at least one early or late-term miscarriage and had a higher overall risk of spontaneous abortion compared with reference women. Three or more early miscarriages were reported by 12% of patients with RA compared with 8% of reference women, and 6% of women with RA reported three or more late term miscarriages compared with 4% among reference women. No significant differences were seen between the groups in risk for stillbirth, according to the researchers.
The researchers reported the limitations of the study included the lack of access to information about medications consumed and the fact that only parous women were included. Further, the diagnoses of RA were not validated, 10% of women in the cohort did not report prior information about miscarriage, and the potential for recall bias existed within the data. – by Shirley Pulawski
Disclosure: The research was supported by the Liaison Committee between the Central Norway
Regional Health Authority and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
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