POS0517 GREATER USE OF ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNIQUES BUT COMPARABLE OBSTETRIC MORBIDITY IN A POPULATION OF WOMEN WITH SPONDYLOARTHRITIS: A MATCHED COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE GR2 PROSPECTIVE COHORT AND THE FRENCH NATIONAL PERINATAL SURVEYS (2024)

Abstract

Background: Spondyloarthritis (SpA) regularly affects women of childbearing age [1]. A higher obstetric morbidity in women with SpA is suggested in the literature in several countries, but no comparison between SpA patients and women in the general population is available for France. Furthermore, there is very few data on fertility in SpA patients.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to compare use of medically assisted reproduction and adverse fetal, maternal and pregnancy outcomes in women with SpA with matched controls from the French general population.

Methods: We conducted a matched comparative study of SpA patients included in the GR2 (Groupe de Recherche sur la Grossesse et les Maladies Rares) national multicentre cohort from 2014 to June 2021 and controls from the French general population included in the French national perinatal surveys (Enquête Nationale Périnatale) [2]. The latter is a national survey carried out for one week every 5 years and recording around 13 000 births. As births before 22 gestational week (GW) and birth weights < 500 grams were excluded from the French national perinatal survey, the same exclusion criteria were applied to women with SpA from the GR2 cohort. Each pregnancy in patients with SpA was matched to 4 pregnancies in controls on age group (≤ 29, 30-34, 35-39, or ≥ 40 years), parity, area of residence, and gemellity. These matching variables were chosen according to their association with adverse pregnancy outcomes (potential confounders). Births in the GR2 cohort between 2015 and 2018 were matched to births in the 2016 survey and those between 2019 and 2021 were matched to births in the 2021 survey. RStudio’s MatchIt package was used to match SpA patients to controls. The frequency of each adverse pregnancy outcome was compared between the two groups using Fisher’s exact test or Chi-2. Odds ratios (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for each variable.

Results: Of the 126 SpA patients included in the GR2 cohort, 116 pregnancies were selected after excluding births before 22 GW and/or birth weight < 500 grams. They were matched with 464 control pregnancies from the French national perinatal survey (224 pregnancies from the 2016 survey and 240 from the 2021 survey). The mean age of SpA patients was 32.0 (+/- 4.1) years and 54.3% were nulliparous. 54.8% of them were treated with biologics during pregnancy. The use of assisted reproductive techniques was higher in women with SpA 12.9% versus 7.1% (OR 1.95 95% CI [1.02-3.76]). However, there was no significant difference between the two populations regarding preterm birth, gestational diabetes, fetal macrosomia, gravidic hypertension, low birth weight, severe postpartum hemorrhage, maternal or fetal transfer to intensive care unit or congenital malformation (Table 1).

Acknowledgements: The GR2 Cohort is supported by the French Society of Rheumatology, the French Internal Medicine Society, and unrestricted grants from UCB.

Disclosure of Interests: None declared.