Risk factors for pregnancy failure in patients with antiphospholipid antibody positivity and prior pregnancy losses: A retrospective study

To analyze the risk factors associated with pregnancy failure in patients with positive antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) and prior pregnancy losses, with or without a diagnosis of antiphospholipid syndrome.

We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all the pregnant patients with positive aPL that visited the Peking University Third Hospital on an inpatient or outpatient basis from 2010 to 2019. According to the pregnancy outcome during this study, patients were divided into successful and unsuccessful groups. The clinical characteristics, laboratory tests and treatments were collected.

In total, 105 patients were included. 74/105 (70.48 %) patients were in the successful group and 31/105 (29.52 %) patients were in the unsuccessful group. In univariate analysis, the patients with successful pregnancies had a significant prevalence of low-dose aspirin (LDA) prior to pregnancy (P = 0.049) and heparin plus LDA plus hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and/or steroids (P = 0.037). Triple aPL positivity (P = 0.026), prior pregnancy losses ≥3 (P = 0.036), maternal age at pregnancy ≥35 years (P = 0.001) and no treatment during pregnancy (P < 0.001) were significantly prevalent in patients with unsuccessful pregnancies. In multivariate analysis, prior pregnancy losses ≥3 (P = 0.039; odds ratio (OR) 4.5; 95 %CI 1.3, 14.3), maternal age at pregnancy ≥35 years (P = 0.019; OR 4.3; 95 %CI 1.1, 18.5) and no treatment (P < 0.001; OR 0.03; 95 %CI 0.004, 0.2) were independent risk factors for subsequent pregnancy losses.

The risk factors affecting pregnancy outcomes for patients with aPL positivity and prior pregnancy losses included prior pregnancy losses ≥3, maternal age at pregnancy ≥35 years and no treatment during pregnancy.