Pregnancy outcomes and perinatal complications of Asian mothers with juvenile idiopathic arthritis – a case-control registry study

BACKGROUNDS: In order to provide juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients with better pre-conceptional and prenatal counselling, we investigated the obstetrical and neonatal outcomes among women with Asian descent. METHODS: Through the linkage of Taiwan National Health Insurance database and National Birth Registry, we established a population-based birth cohort in Taiwan between 2004 and 2014. In a case control study design, first children born to mothers with JIA are identified and matched with 5 non-JIA controls by maternal age and birth year. Conditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios for maternal and neonatal outcomes crude and with adjustment. RESULTS: Of the 2,100,143 newborn, 778 (0.037%) were born to JIA mothers. Among them, 549 first-born children were included in this research. Our result suggested that babies born to mothers with JIA were more likely to have low birth body weight, with an adjusted OR of 1.35(95% CI: 1.02 to 1.79) when compared to babies born to mothers without. No differences were observed in other perinatal complications between women with and without JIA including stillbirth, prematurity, or small for gestational age. The rate of adverse obstetrical outcomes such as caesarean delivery, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, postpartum hemorrhage and mortality were also similar between the two. CONCLUSIONS: Adverse obstetrical and neonatal outcomes were limited among Asian mothers with JIA. Intensive care may not be necessary for JIA mothers and their newborns.