OBJECTIVE: To analyze the pregnancy profile in a group of female patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) followed at a referral university center. METHODS: Retrospective study analyzing 40 women with the diagnosis of AS according to the New York modified criteria followed at the Spondyloarthropathies Outpatient Clinic of the State University of Campinas in the period between 1990-2004. The number of pregnancies, deliveries and miscarriages was investigated, as well as the disease behavior during the pregnancy in those patients that got pregnant after AS onset. RESULTS: Among the 40 AS patients, 35 (87.5%) were Caucasians and 27 (67.5%) were HLA-B27 positive; 3 patients (7.5%) referred familial history of AS. The mean age of onset was 29.9 years old and the mean disease duration was 15.5 years. Nine patients (22.5%) never got pregnant; just one patient decided not to get pregnant because of AS. Thirty-one patients presented 83 pregnancies (an average of 2.7 pregnancies/patient), being seven after disease onset. There were 70 deliveries and 12 spontaneous miscarriages, but no miscarriages after AS onset. Among the 5 patients that got pregnant after disease onset, just 1 patient referred worsening of AS, related to hip involvement. CONCLUSIONS: In the present casuistic, fertility seemed not to be affected before disease onset and most patients decided not to get pregnant after AS onset.
ankylosing spondylitis; female sex; pregnancy; miscarriage