Anergy during pregnancy

This study was undertaken to determine whether the prevalence of anergy is higher among pregnant women than among nonpregnant women.

Sixty human immunodeficiency virus-seronegative women (n = 30 pregnant, n = 30 nonpregnant) from the Duke University Medical Center (Durham, North Carolina) clinic were enrolled. Skin tests were performed with purified protein derivative of tuberculin, Candida antigen, mumps antigen, and tetanus toxoid. A power calculation was done to determine adequate sample size, and data were analyzed with the Fisher exact test and the t test.

Three women in each group did not have a response to any of the antigens tested, for an anergy prevalence of 10%. Pregnant women were less likely to have a reaction to skin testing with tetanus toxoid than were nonpregnant women (10% vs 40%; P <.02).

Human immunodeficiency virus-seronegative pregnant women did not appear to have a higher prevalence of anergy than that seen among comparable nonpregnant women. Human immunodeficiency virus-seronegative pregnant women who are being evaluated with the purified protein derivative of tuberculin skin test are therefore unlikely to need anergy skin testing just because they are pregnant.