SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS: CAUSES, SYMPTOMS, AND TREATMENT APPROACHES

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a disease that predominantly affects women of reproductive age whose fertility is not impaired. This has determined a long-standing interest in the problem of pregnancy and childbirth in SLE. As early as 1955, JA Merrill [113] in one of the first literature reviews "SLE and pregnancy" noted that fetal losses in SLE amount to 36%. Subsequent numerous studies confirmed the fact of the unfavorable effect of SLE on the course of pregnancy, its maternal and perinatal outcomes. According to G. Burkett [52], the frequency of spontaneous abortions in SLE is 50%, stillbirths - 35%, premature births - 25%, and about 5% of infants suffer from intrauterine growth retardation. In recent decades, improvement of SLE diagnostics, especially its low-manifest forms, early and adequate treatment have improved the prognosis of the disease, increased the life expectancy of patients, which in turn led to a revision of the problem of motherhood in women with SLE.