Pregnancy complications and new-onset maternal autoimmune disease

Background — Autoimmune diseases disproportionately impact women and female-specific aspects of reproduction are thought to play a role. We investigated the time-varying association between pregnancy complications and new-onset autoimmune disease in females during the reproductive and midlife years.

Methods — We conducted a population-based cohort study of 1 704 553 singleton births to 1 072 445 females in Ontario, Canada (2002–17) with no pre-existing autoimmune disease. Pregnancy complications were preeclampsia, stillbirth, spontaneous preterm birth and severe small for gestational age (SGA). Royston-Parmar models were used to estimate the time-varying association between pregnancy complications and a composite of 25 autoimmune diseases from date of delivery to date of autoimmune disease diagnosis or censoring at death, loss of health insurance, or 31 March 2021. Models were adjusted for baseline socio-demographics, parity and comorbidities.

Results — At 19 years (median = 10.9 years of follow-up), cumulative incidence of autoimmune disease was 3.1% in those with a pregnancy complication and 2.6% in those without complications. Adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) curves as a function of time since birth were generally L-shaped. Universally, risks were most elevated within the first 3 years after birth [at 1 year: preeclampsia AHR 1.22, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.09–1.36; stillbirth AHR 1.36, 95% CI 0.99–1.85; spontaneous preterm birth AHR 1.30, 95% CI 1.18–1.44; severe SGA AHR 1.14, 95% CI 0.99–1.31] and plateaued but remained elevated thereafter.

Conclusions — Prior history of pregnancy complications may be an important female-specific risk factor to consider during clinical assessment of females for possible autoimmune disease to facilitate timely detection and treatment.