Maternal predictive factors for fetal congenital heart block in pregnant mothers positive for anti-SS-A antibodies.

AbstractObjective: To determine the maternal predictive factors for fetal congenital heart block(CHB) in pregnancy in mothers positive for anti-SS-A antibodies.Methods: The Research Team for Surveillance of Autoantibody-Exposed Fetuses and Treatment of Neonatal Lupus Erythematosus, the Research Program of the Japan Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, performed a national survey on pregnancy of mothers positive for anti-SS-A antibodies. We analyzed 635 pregnant mothers who tested positive for anti-SS-A antibodies before conception but had no previous history of fetal CHB. We performed univariateand multivariate analysis (models 1, 2, and 3 using different set of independent variables) investigated the relation between risk of fetal CHB and maternal clinical features.Results: Of the 635 pregnant mothers, fetal CHB was detected in 16. Univariate analysisshowed that fetal CHB associated with use of corticosteroids before conception (OR 3.72, p = 0.04), and negatively with use of corticosteroids (equival...