Reproductive Outcomes for Women with Vasculitis.

OBJECTIVE: There are limited data on the reproductive health of women with vasculitis. This study utilized a prospective, international vasculitis pregnancy registry to survey women during and after pregnancy. METHODS: The Vasculitis Pregnancy Registry (VPREG) is imbedded within the Vasculitis Patient-Powered Research Network (VPPRN), an international online research infrastructure. Any pregnant woman with a diagnosis of vasculitis can self-enroll. After enrollment, women are invited to complete online surveys at study entry, once per trimester, and postpartum. Descriptive statistics are reported here. RESULTS: Between 2015-2022, 147 women with 149 pregnancies enrolled in VPREG from 16 countries. Data on 78 pregnancies with known outcomes were included in this analysis. During pregnancy, women on average experienced low levels of pain related to vasculitis (scale 0-10, median 2 (IQR 1-5)) and preserved feelings of wellness (scale 0-10, median 3 (IQR 1-5)). Thirty-six percent of women reported their vasculitis was active during pregnancy. Of the 14 women requiring hospitalization during pregnancy outside of delivery, four cited active vasculitis as the indication. Most women (54/73, 74%) were prescribed medications for vasculitis during pregnancy. Seventy-six (97%) pregnancies resulted in live births with 64% delivering vaginally and 21% experiencing a preterm delivery. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that most women with vasculitis can experience pregnancies that result in live births delivered at term. During pregnancy, a minority of women reported flares of vasculitis or the need for hospitalization due to vasculitis. These data are useful to rheumatologists and patients to inform and facilitate discussions about reproductive health and vasculitis.

Racial and Ethnic Distribution of Rheumatic Diseases in Health Systems of the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relative prevalence of 8 rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) across racial and ethnic groups within the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet). METHODS: Electronic health records from participating PCORnet institutions and systems from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2018, were used to identify adult patients with ≥ 2 diagnosis codes for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), osteoporosis (OP), granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), microscopic polyangiitis (MPA), eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA), giant cell arteritis (GCA), and Takayasu arteritis (TAK). Among those with race and ethnicity data available, we compared prevalence of RMDs by race and ethnicity. RESULTS: Data from 28,059,546 patients were available for analysis. RA was more common in patients who were American Indian or Alaska Native vs White, with a prevalence of 11.57 vs 10.11/1000 (odds ratio [OR] 1.15, 95% CI 1.09-1.22). SLE was more common in patients who were Black or African American (6.73/1000), American Indian or Alaska Native (3.82/1000), and Asian (3.39/1000) vs White (2.80/1000; OR 2.43, 95% CI 2.39-2.46; OR 1.39, 95% CI 1.25-1.53; OR 1.26, 95% CI 1.21-1.31, respectively). SLE was more common in patients who were Hispanic vs non-Hispanic (prevalence 3.93 vs 3.45/1000, OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.12-1.16). TAK was more common in patients who were Asian vs White (prevalence 0.05 vs 0.04/1000, OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.00-2.03). OP, RA, and the vasculitides were all more common in patients who were White vs Black or African American. CONCLUSION: These data provide important information on the prevalence of RMDs by race and ethnicity in the United States. PCORnet can be used as a reliable data source to study RMDs within a large representative population.

Assessment of Cutaneous Vasculitis and Quality of Life.

This survey study assesses the health-related quality of life outcomes in adult patients with cutaneous manifestations of vasculitis.