AUTHOR=Matys Viviana , Rizzo Francesca , De Carolis Maria Pia , Barresi Salvatore , Serio Anna Maria , Lanzone Antonio , Garufi Ester , De Carolis Sara , Garufi Cristina 

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

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Lupus

VOLUME=Volume 3 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/lupus/articles/10.3389/flupu.2025.1480867

DOI=10.3389/flupu.2025.1480867

ISSN=2813-6934

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>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.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>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”.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>A higher prevalence of women with multiple maternal diseases was detected in the HCQ group, in comparison to that of non-HCQ group (<italic>p</italic> = 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 (<italic>p</italic> = 0.0368).</p></sec><sec><title>Discussion</title><p>The protective role of HCQ on infants should be further evaluated in prospective multicenter long-term studies.</p></sec>