TY - JOUR T1 - Pregnancy Outcome in Inflammatory Arthropathies — Are Population Database Studies the Right Tool? JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol SP - 161 LP - 163 DO - 10.3899/jrheum.190631 VL - 47 IS - 2 AU - ARI POLACHEK AU - LIHI EDER Y1 - 2020/02/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/47/2/161.abstract N2 - Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) belong to the inflammatory arthropathies (IA) group. These diseases differ from one another in their underlying mechanisms, clinical phenotype, extraarticular manifestations, and in the ways they are treated. Accordingly, they are classified into different groups, such as RA versus spondyloarthropathies (SpA) including PsA and AS1,2.However, despite these differences, IA share a similar period of onset, during the third to the sixth decades of life3,4,5. Accordingly, many female patients with IA are in their childbearing years and the interplay between the inflammatory arthritic disease and pregnancy is a matter of concern. To date, most of the information in this field derives from studies conducted in patients with RA, and unfortunately the gestational data regarding those who have other types of IA are scarce6,7,8.In the current issue of The Journal, Keeling, et al9 addressed a very important topic of pregnancy course and outcome among patients with IA by comparing patients with RA, SpA, and healthy controls (HC) using population-based administrative data from Alberta, Canada.The study results showed that patients with RA were at higher risk than patients with SpA and HC of experiencing hypertensive disorder during pregnancy, preterm deliveries, and cesarean deliveries. They were also more likely to give birth to small for gestational age (SGA) babies, and to deliver babies with lower birth weight compared to patients with SpA and to HC. Further multivariate analyses confirmed the association with hypertensive disorder and SGA. These findings are in line with several previous studies in patients with RA that showed similar pregnancy outcomes6,7,8.The main contribution of this study is the gestational information about pregnancy outcomes … Address correspondence to Dr. A. Polachek, Department of Rheumatology, Sourasky Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, 6 Wizeman St., Tel Aviv 64239, Israel. E-mail: arikpolachek{at}yahoo.com ER -