Behcet disease and pregnancy

Abstract

Purpose: Behcet disease (BD) is a multisystemic vaculitis commonly diagnosed in reproductive years. The authors aimed to investigate the relationship between BD and pregnancy outcomes. Materials and Methods: In this multicenter retrospective survey study, the authors compared the pregnancy outcomes of BD patients with the healthy controls. Results: A total of 298 pregnancies of 94 patients with BD and 219 pregnancies of 95 healthy controls were evaluated. The mean birth weight of all babies of women with BD and the control group were 3,214 grams and 3,351 grams, respectively (p = 0.028). The miscarriage rates were also higher in the BD group. The complication rates of pregnancy with hypertension, preeclampsia, preterm labour in the study group and the control group were 12.8% and 11.6%, respectively (p = 0.489). Conclusion: The current study demonstrated that BD patients delivered smaller babies and they have higher miscarriage rates when compared to the healthy controls which might be due to the vasculitis of the placenta.