The occurrence of autoantibodies in sera of healthy pregnant women

Autoantibodies have been known to be detected during pregnancy. The occurrence of autoantibodies during pregnancy was studied in a group of 146 healthy pregnant women from Jan-March 1995. Serum samples were tested for antinuclear (ANA), anti-ds DNA, anti-mitochondrial, anti-smooth muscle and anti-parietal cell antibodies employing the technique of indirect immunofluorescence. Sera from 66 non-pregnant women were used as controls. Among the pregnant group, 2 (1.4%) were found to have ANA positivity in comparison to none in the control group. This difference was found to be not statistically significant. Only 1 (0.7%) was positive for anti-mitochondrial antibody in the pregnant group compared to one in the control group (p > 0.05). However, anti-ds DNA, anti-smooth muscle and anti-parietal cell antibodies were not detected in both groups. All those positive for autoantibodies were in their 2nd trimester. When these cases were followed-up at the end of their pregnancy, none had complicated pregnancies nor infant abnormalities. Our findings suggest that (a) the occurrence of autoantibodies in pregnant women was not significantly different from non-pregnant controls and that (b) maternal autoantibodies did not appear to cause complications during pregnancy or infant morbidity.