Abstract:
Introduction. Rheumatic diseases often affect women during their childbearing years, when
pregnancy is an expected event. For years, women with potentially serious systemic autoimmune
diseases have been advised to not get pregnant. Now we know that, with careful medical and
obstetric management, most of these women can have successful pregnancies. Successful,
however, does not mean uneventful. Doctors and patients must be ready to deal with possible
complications for both mother and child. Further, women should not consider getting pregnant
until their rheumatic disease is under control. A frequently encountered group of rheumatic
diseases that affect women of reproductive years are the seronegative spondyloarthropathies
(chronic reactive arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and undifferentiated
spondyloarthropathies). Each pregnancy in these women roots an unique interest and requires an
individualized management, sometimes becoming a clinical challenge for the practitioner, as an
unified approach is still missing.
