Healio Primary Care reports on the findings of an HSS study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine which demonstrated maternal mortality significantly decreased and overall pregnancy outcomes improved in women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Lead study author Bella Mehta, MBBS, MD, MS, rheumatologist at HSS, and colleagues, conducted a retrospective cohort study using discharge data from the National Inpatient Sample database to evaluate trends and fetal complications in SLE patients from 1998-2015. Outcomes including in-hospital maternal mortality, fetal mortality, non-delivery-related hospital admissions, preeclampsia or eclampsia, cesarean sections, and the length of stay were evaluated and compared in pregnant women with and without SLE.

Researchers noted that the significantly larger improvement in maternal mortality among women with SLE compared with those without SLE suggests that factors beyond developments in obstetrics were responsible for improved maternal mortality in those with SLE.

Read the full article at Healio.com.

Additional coverage: Medwirenews.com, MDedge.com, HealthDay News, Reuters Health, Medscape.com, MedicalResearch.com, LupusNewsToday.com, the-rheumatologist.org.