Lupus Science and Medicine (May 2021)

Effectiveness of a multidisciplinary clinical pathway for women with systemic lupus erythematosus and/or antiphospholipid syndrome

  • Cornelia F Allaart,
  • Tom W J Huizinga,
  • Y K Onno Teng,
  • Jeroen Eikenboom,
  • Jan M M van Lith,
  • Nan van Geloven,
  • Hans-Marc J Siebelink,
  • Marieke Sueters,
  • Merlijn Wind,
  • Maike Hendriks,
  • Ton J Rabelink,
  • Hildo J Lamb,
  • Maarten K Ninaber,
  • Bernadette T J van Brussel

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1136/lupus-2020-000472
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 1

Abstract

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Objectives SLE and/or antiphospholipid syndrome (SLE/APS) are complex and rare systemic autoimmune diseases that predominantly affect women of childbearing age. Women with SLE/APS are at high risk of developing complications during pregnancy. Therefore, clinical practice guidelines recommend that patients with SLE/APS should receive multidisciplinary counselling before getting pregnant. We investigated the clinical effectiveness of implementing a multidisciplinary clinical pathway including prepregnancy counselling of patients with SLE/APS.Methods A clinical pathway with specific evaluation and prepregnancy counselling for patients with SLE/APS was developed and implemented in a tertiary, academic hospital setting. Patients were prospectively managed within the clinical pathway from 2014 onwards and compared with a retrospective cohort of patients that was not managed in a clinical pathway. Primary outcome was a combined outcome of disease flares for SLE and thromboembolic events for APS. Secondary outcomes were maternal and fetal pregnancy complications.Results Seventy-eight patients with 112 pregnancies were included in this study. The primary combined outcome was significantly lower in the pathway cohort (adjusted OR (aOR) 0.20 (95% CI 0.06 to 0.75)) which was predominantly determined by a fivefold risk reduction of SLE flares (aOR 0.22 (95% CI 0.04 to 1.09)). Maternal and fetal pregnancy complications were not different between the cohorts (respectively, aOR 0.91 (95% CI 0.38 to 2.17) and aOR 1.26 (95% CI 0.55 to 2.88)).Conclusions The outcomes of this study suggest that patients with SLE/APS with a pregnancy wish benefit from a multidisciplinary clinical pathway including prepregnancy counselling.