Pregnancy outcome in women with psoriasis

OBJECTIVE: To determine pregnancy outcome in women with psoriasis. STUDY DESIGN: A case-control study of 145 deliveries in women with psoriasis during the years 1988-2004 was performed. For every birth, 6 births to nonpsoriatic women (n = 860) were randomly selected and adjusted for ethnicity and year of delivery. RESULTS: Recurrent abortions (OR = 2.1, 95% CI 1.1-4.9, p = 0.04) and chronic hypertension (OR = 2.9, 95% CI 1.01-8.3, p = 0.048) were significantly associated with psoriasis in a multivariable analysis with backward elimination. Psoriasis was also found as an independent risk factor for cesarean delivery (CD) in another multivariable analysis with CD as the outcome variable (OR = 4.1, 95% CI 2.3-7.5, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: A significant association exists between psoriasis and pregnancy complications. Moreover, psoriasis is an independent risk factor for CD. Thus, physicians should keep in mind that psoriasis might have nondermatologic implications that may adversely affect pregnancy.