ABSTRACT
Objective To examine the predictive value of fetal umbilical artery Doppler in preterm birth in pregnant women with systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE).Methods The clinical data from 160 live births of SLE patients were analyzed retrospectively.Results The mean age of SLE patients at pregnancy was(29.7 ± 3.7) years(20 ~ 37 years). Totally,56 patients(32.5%)were preterm births and 76(47.5%)were full-term births without any other adverse pregnancy outcomes. The rate of preterm birth before 34 weeks was 26.9% and that was 73.1% for those preterm deliveries after 34 weeks. Iatrogenic preterm birth was the most common cause of preterm birth(32 cases),followed by spontaneous preterm birth(12 cases)and preterm premature rupture of membranes (10 cases).The pulsatility index(PI),resistance index(RI)as well as S/D value of SLE patients with pre-term delivery was higher than those of patients with full-term delivery(P<0.05).The area below the ROC curve for PI, RI and S/D was 0.6(95% CI 0.5~0.7),0.7(95% CI 0.6~0.8)and 0.6(95% CI 0.5~0.7),respectively.PI with cut-off value of 1.0 indicated the highest risk of preterm birth,with sensitivities of 34.6% and 84.2.The optimal cut-off value for RI and S/D was 0.7 and 2.8 respectivly,at which sensitivity and specificity had the best combination. Conclusions Pregnancies in lupus still have an increased risk of preterm birth. Umbilical artery Doppler was a useful monitoring tool for preterm birth in lupus pregnancies.