Does rheumatoid arthritis disease activity improve during pregnancy?

This study investigated if pregnancy affects rheumatoid arthritis (RA) symptoms. They found that disease activity improved during pregnancy.  

RA is categorized as an auto-immune disease. These develop when the body’s immune system starts attacking healthy tissue. During pregnancy, the woman’s immune system is lowered. Some studies suggest that this leads to lower disease activity. A lot of the evidence to support this is variable. Some of the reports have been subjective. This means that the evidence is based on patient opinion and not clinical observations. It is unclear if disease activity improves during pregnancy in patients with RA.

This study reviewed data from 10 clinical reports. This included 237 patients with RA that became pregnant. Disease activity was measured using two scoring systems. Postpartum (after pregnancy) flares were measured in 5 of the studies. 

60.3% of patients had an improvement in disease activity during pregnancy. This varied between 40.4% and 90% across the studies. Postpartum flares were reported in 63 women. This represented 46.7% of the women in those 5 studies. No adverse events were reported during pregnancy. 23% of babies were born prematurely. 22% of babies were small for their gestational (pregnancy) age. 

The authors concluded that disease activity improved during pregnancy.

There were a lot of differences between the studies. The methods used to define disease activity varied. More investigation is needed to determine if pregnancy affects disease activity. 

If you have any concerns regarding RA, please consult with your physician.