Clinical manifestations and maternal and perinatal outcomes in expectant mothers with obstetric antiphospholipid syndrome at a high complexity institution: Descriptive study

Objective: To describe the clinical characteristics, as well as the maternal and perinatal outcomes in pregnant women with the antiphospholipid syndrome in a reference institution. Materials and methods: A retrospective descriptive study was carried out in order to evaluate pregnant women with antiphospholipid syndrome according to Sydney criteria or rheumatologist criteria between 2010 and 2016. Cases with hereditary thrombophilia, cervical incompetence, history of hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and human immunodeficiency virus were excluded. The information on sociodemographic and clinical variables was collected from the review of medical records. Results: Sixteen pregnant women were included; seven (43.8%) patients had a history of abortion, five (71.4%) on more than one occasion; these losses occurred after week ten. Nine (56.3) had antiphospholipid syndrome associated with systemic lupus erythematosus. The main serological marker was lupus anticoagulant in 12 (75%) pregnant women. Two (12.5%) patients had triple positivity and six (37.5%) double positivity of antiphospholipid antibodies. The most frequent obstetric complications were premature rupture of membranes (28.6%), pre-eclampsia (13.3%), and placental insufficiency (11.8%), which were more common in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, as well as in those with triple and double antiphospholipid antibody positivity. Conclusions: Obstetric antiphospholipid syndrome was associated with systemic lupus erythematosus in the majority of cases; however, the latter was in remission. The worst obstetric outcomes were observed in patients with this association or in cases with triple or double antiphospholipid antibody positivity.