Racial disparities in pregnancy outcomes among women with rheumatic diseases: A systematic literature review.

OBJECTIVE: There is a limited understanding of racial disparities in adverse pregnancy outcomes (APO) among women with rheumatic diseases. The aim of our study was to conduct a systematic literature review to evaluate the impact of race on APO in women with rheumatic diseases. METHODS: Databases were searched to find reports of APO stratified by race among women with rheumatic diseases. The initial searches were conducted in July 2020 and updated in March 2021. Of the final included articles, the full text was reviewed, and data was extracted from each study using a standard data abstraction form. RESULTS: Ten studies with a total of 39,720 patients met our eligibility criteria. There was a greater propensity for APO in racial minorities with rheumatic diseases compared to their White counterparts. Among women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Black women had the highest odds of APOs, particularly those with a concomitant diagnosis of antiphospholipid syndrome. Pooled meta-analysis could not be done due to multiple factors, including heterogeneity between studies. CONCLUSION: Racial minorities with rheumatic diseases are more prone to APO compared to their White counterparts. One limitation is the lack of standardized criteria for APO, which prohibited direct comparison between studies. There is also a paucity of data looking at APOs among women with rheumatic diseases other than SLE. Further research is needed to explore the drivers of these racial disparities to guide targeted solutions for those in the greatest need.

Pregnancy after bariatric surgery in women with rheumatic diseases and association with adverse birth outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARDs) and bariatric surgery are each risk factors for adverse birth outcomes. To date, no study has investigated their combined impact on birth outcomes. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of bariatric surgery on pregnancy outcomes in women with an ARD. As a secondary comparison, we assessed the risk of bariatric surgery on the same outcomes in women without an ARD. SETTING: Records maintained by the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. METHODS: This cohort study included infants born between 20-44 weeks of gestation in California between 2011-2018. Risks of adverse pregnancy outcomes were evaluated for women with a history of bariatric surgery as compared to women without a history of bariatric surgery, stratified by ARD, using log-linear regression with a Poisson distribution. RESULTS: The study included 3,574,165 infants, of whom 10,823 (0.3%) were born to women who had an ARD and 13,529 (0.38%) to women with a history of bariatric surgery. There were 155 infants born to women (0.0043%) with both an ARD and a history of bariatric surgery. In women with an ARD and without bariatric surgery, the prevalence of preterm births was 18%, compared to 17.4% in women with both ARD and bariatric surgery; in women without ARD but with prior bariatric surgery, the prevalence of preterm births was 13.7%, compared to 8.2% in women without bariatric surgery. Except for neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admissions, women with an ARD and history of bariatric surgery were not at a statistically increased risk of having other adverse pregnancy outcomes as compared to women with an ARD and no history of bariatric surgery. CONCLUSION: Our study shows that women with ARD already have a high occurrence of several adverse birth outcomes, and this was not further increased by a history of bariatric surgery. The infants born to women with a history of ARD and bariatric surgery were admitted to the NICU significantly more than the infants born to women with an ARD and no history of bariatric surgery.

Intestinal Neuronal Dysplasia-Like Submucosal Ganglion Cell Hyperplasia at the Proximal Margins of Hirschsprung Disease Resections.

Intestinal neuronal dysplasia type B (IND) denotes an increased proportion of hyperplastic submucosal ganglia, as resolved histochemically in 15-µm-thick frozen sections. IND has been reported proximal to the aganglionic segment in patients with Hirschsprung disease (HSCR) and is putatively associated with a higher rate of postsurgical dysmotility. We developed and validated histological criteria to diagnose IND-like submucosal ganglion cell hyperplasia (IND-SH) in paraffin sections and used the approach to study the incidence and clinical and/or genetic associations of IND-SH at the proximal margins of HSCR pull-through resection specimens. Full-circumference paraffin sections from the proximal margins of 64 HSCR colonic pull-through specimens and 24 autopsy controls were immunostained for neuron-specific Hu antigen, and nucleated ganglion cells in each submucosal ganglion were counted. In controls, an age-related decline in the relative abundance of "giant" ganglia (≥7 nucleated Hu-positive [Hu+] ganglion cells) was observed. A conservative diagnostic threshold for IND-SH (control mean ± 3× standard deviation) was derived from 15 controls less than 25 weeks of age. No control exceeded this threshold, whereas in the same age range, IND-SH was observed at the proximal margins in 15% (7 of 46) of HSCR resections, up to 15 cm proximal to the aganglionic segment. No significant correlation was observed between IND-SH and length of or distance from the aganglionic segment, sex, trisomy 21, RET or SEMA3C/D polymorphisms, or clinical outcome, but analysis of more patients, with better long-term follow-up will be required to clarify the significance of this histological phenotype.

Counting myenteric ganglion cells in histologic sections: an empirical approach.

An abnormal density of myenteric neurons is a putative cause of intestinal pseudo-obstruction. Quantification of myenteric ganglion cells may be necessary to establish hyper- or hypoganglionosis, but published norms are very discordant. We investigated how observer bias and tissue sampling affect the accuracy and reproducibility of myenteric neuron counts obtained from histologic sections immunostained for HuC/D, a neuronal cell body-specific antigen. Despite a collective effort to standardize neuronal identification criteria, significant discrepancies were found between the counts obtained by different observers. In contrast, counts by a single observer, over a period of several months, revealed excellent reproducibility. To investigate effects of tissue sampling on the accuracy of ganglion cell density estimates, one observer counted immunoreactive neurons in 22 full-circumference rectal sections from the same paraffin block. The mean number of neurons per circumference from all 22 sections was considered a target, against which estimates from smaller samples were compared. To ensure an accurate estimate of the circumferential density (within 10% of the target value), counts had to be averaged from at least 5 sections of nearly the full circumference. Examinations of fewer sections or less than two thirds of the circumference were prone to errors. Application of these principles to sections from the transitional zone in Hirschsprung disease validated the approach and discriminated relatively subtle changes in neuronal density. We conclude that neuronal counts are best performed by individuals using their own normative data for reference and that biopsies of small portions of the circumference may not resolve potentially significant hypo- or hyperganglionosis.