The influence of pregnancy on blood parameters in patients with rheumatic disease

To evaluate the mutual effect of pregnancy and rheumatic disease, 17 laboratory parameters have been monitored in 10 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 13 patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), studied prospectively during and after gestation. Thirty-one healthy pregnant women served as controls. In the two patient groups, laboratory measurements during gestation, including several acute phase proteins, paralleled those found in healthy controls, indicating that rheumatic disease has no adverse effect on pregnancy. When the non-pregnant period was evaluated, elevated levels of IgG and IgM in RA and elevated ESR and IgA appeared to be predictive indices of the gestational remissions of RA and AS. Thus, a specific immunologic reactivity may be the main condition for remission during pregnancy.