Abstract
Autoimmune diseases usually affect females in their reproductive years of age. Fertility, fecundity and the foetal outcome are affected by these disorders. Conversely, the course of these diseases might be affected by the pregnant state. Clinicians dealing with these patients should be well versed with the interaction between autoimmune disease and pregnancy. Previously pregnancy in these women used to be discouraged as there was fear of worsening of autoimmune disorder besides the possibility of a poor obstetric outcome. The approach and outlook to pregnancy in these patients have changed considerably now. Preconception counselling, maintaining disease in stable remission state, withdrawal of potentially teratogenic medications, availability and substitution with safe drugs to maintain remission besides close anti-natal follow-up of these patients have tremendously improved the maternal and foetal outcome. We here review some of the important autoimmune disorder with special emphasis on fertility and pregnancy in them.
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Kumar, S. (2020). Fertility and Pregnancy in Autoimmune Diseases. In: Sharma, S. (eds) Women's Health in Autoimmune Diseases. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0114-2_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0114-2_6
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