Neonatal and Maternal Outcomes among Women with Glomerulonephritis

The outcomes of pregnancy in women with renal diseases remain controversial. The purpose of the study was to report fetal and maternal outcomes among women with glomerular disease in comparison with healthy pregnant women and a review of the current literature on this issue.

Retrospective analysis included 72 pregnancies in 62 women with biopsy-proven glomerulonephritis (GN) (in 65.3% of cases, immunoglobulin A nephropathy was found). The control group consisted of 315 healthy pregnant women. We assessed fetal (prematurity, low birth weight, hypotrophy, fetal malformation, or intrauterine death) and maternal (gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, deterioration in kidney function, and maternal death) outcomes. Descriptive data analysis, Fisher's exact test, unpaired Student's t test, and ANOVA were performed.

Hypertension prevalence among the GN group and controls was 76.4 and 10.2%, respectively. Preeclampsia complicated 29.2% of pregnancies among women with GN and 2.9% of controls. In 8.3% of patients, at least a 50% decrease in GFR during pregnancy was observed. Preterm delivery prevalence in the GN group and controls was 74.7 and 12.7%, respectively. Hypotrophy was diagnosed in 12.5% of cases from the GN group and 5.4% of controls. The analysis showed that low estimated glomerular filtration rate, hypertension, and proteinuria were risk factors of adverse neonatal outcomes.

Women with GN are a risk factor of adverse pregnancy outcomes. As pregnancy complications are more prevalent across all the CKD stages, even in patients with near-normal kidney function, they require specialized care. It might be advisable to screen pregnant women for the presence of CKD, as especially in the early stage, it is often asymptomatic. Both hypertension and proteinuria are risk factors for neonatal and maternal complications.