Long-term neurological morbidity of offspring born to women with systemic lupus erythematosus

Objective
Pregnancies in the setting of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are associated with adverse outcomes, among them is preterm delivery. As preterm delivery is associated with long-term neurological morbidity of the offspring, we opted to evaluate the long-term neurologic outcomes of offspring born to mothers with SLE.
Study Design
In a population-based retrospective cohort study, the incidence of long-term neurological morbidity was compared between offspring to women with and without SLE. Deliveries occurred between the years 1991 and 2014 in a tertiary medical centre. Neurological morbidities were assessed up to age of 18 years according to predefined set of ICD-9 codes associated with hospitalization of the offspring. Multifetal pregnancies, cases of congenital anomalies, and perinatal mortality were excluded from the study. A Kaplan-Meier survival curve was used to compare cumulative neurological morbidity incidence.

Results
During the study period, 243682 deliveries were included, of which 96 (0.04%) were of women with SLE. Children born to women with SLE did not exhibit a higher rate of long-term neurologic morbidity compared with children of women without SLE (4.2% vs 3.1%, P=0.546). Likewise, the Kaplan-Meier survival curve did not demonstrate a significantly higher cumulative incidence of long-term neurological morbidity in offspring of women with SLE (log rank p=0.429, Figure).
Conclusion
Despite the association of preterm deliveries with maternal SLE, no significant difference in long-term neurological mor