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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Lupus
Sec. Reproductive Issues in Lupus
Volume 3 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/flupu.2025.1480867
This article is part of the Research Topic Reproductive Issues In Lupus, Antiphospholipid Syndrome And Other Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases: Highlights From RheumaPreg2023 View all 14 articles

Postnatal health of infants born to mothers with autoimmune diseases when treated with hydroxychloroquine

Provisionally accepted
Viviana Matys Viviana Matys 1Francesca Rizzo Francesca Rizzo 2Maria Pia De Carolis Maria Pia De Carolis 2Salvatore Barresi Salvatore Barresi 2Anna Maria Serio Anna Maria Serio 3Antonio Lanzone Antonio Lanzone 2Sara De Carolis Sara De Carolis 2*Cristina Garufi Cristina Garufi 4
  • 1 Department of Maternal, Infantile, and Urological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Lazio, Italy
  • 2 Unit of Pediatrics, Department of Women's Health, Children's Health and Public Health, Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic (IRCCS), Rome, Lazio, Italy
  • 3 Department of Clinical Psychology, Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic (IRCCS), Rome, Lazio, Italy
  • 4 Division of Rheumatology, Department of Clinical Internal, Anesthesiological and Cardiovascular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Lazio, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This retrospective cohort study aimed to observe the postnatal health of infants born to mothers with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases treated with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) during pregnancy. A total of 312 pregnancies of patients who suffered from different systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases were considered. Pregnancy data were collected; a telephone follow-up questionnaire was successfully completed in 182 infants to detect the long-term pediatric outcome. The women who took hydroxychloroquine during pregnancy were defined as “HCQ group” and were compared to women who did not take hydroxychloroquine, “non-HCQ group”. A higher prevalence of women with multiple maternal diseases was detected in the HCQ group, in comparison to that of non-HCQ group (p=0.0015). Despite HCQ group consisting of more complicated maternal conditions, the obstetrical and neonatal outcomes were similar between the two groups. Regarding postnatal health, 40% of infants in HCQ group revealed no pathologies versus 25% of the children in non-HCQ group (p= 0.0368). The protective role of HCQ on infants should be further evaluated in prospective multicenter long-term studies.

    Keywords: Hydroxychloroquine, postnatal health, Pregnancy, Autoimmunity, Autoimmune Diseases

    Received: 14 Aug 2024; Accepted: 09 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Matys, Rizzo, De Carolis, Barresi, Serio, Lanzone, De Carolis and Garufi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sara De Carolis, Unit of Pediatrics, Department of Women's Health, Children's Health and Public Health, Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic (IRCCS), Rome, 00168, Lazio, Italy

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