Outcome of children born to women treated during pregnancy for the antiphospholipid syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the rate of neonatal and childhood medical complications in the offspring of women with the antiphospholipid syndrome who are treated during pregnancy.

METHODS: We compared 29 infants born to 23 mothers with antiphospholipid syndrome with a group of control children matched for year and gestational age at birth and route of delivery. During pregnancy, mothers with antiphospholipid syndrome were treated with accepted therapeutic regimens, including prednisone and low-dose aspirin, heparin and low-dose aspirin, and others.

RESULTS: Neonatal complications in the study infants included hyperbilirubinemia (14), respiratory distress syndrome (three), bronchopulmonary dysplasia (two), necrotizing enterocolitis (two), intraventricular hemorrhage (two), neonatal sepsis (one), coarctation of the aorta (one), hypothyroidism (one), hypoglycemia (one), and death (one). Two children had feeding problems, four had delayed psychomotor development, and eight were small for their age. However, the overall rate of neonatal or childhood complications did not differ from that in the control children.

CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that prematurity and neonatal problems are common, but the childhood course for these offspring is similar to that of other premature infants.