Long-term Outcomes of Children Born to Anti-Ro Antibody Positive Mothers with and without Rheumatic Disease.

Objective: Estimate the prevalence of allergic, neurodevelopmental, and autoimmune diagnoses in children born to anti-Ro antibody positive mothers.

Methods: A cohort study of children born to anti-Ro antibody positive mothers followed in the Neonatal Lupus Erythematosus clinic (NLE) at SickKids Hospital. Participants ≥ 1 year of age were invited to complete a health status questionnaire. Prevalence of allergic, neurodevelopmental, and autoimmune disease diagnoses were compared between from the NLE cohort and the non-NLE population-based CHILD Cohort Study. Descriptive statistics were used for demographics, NLE manifestations and outcomes. Fisher's exact tests compared the prevalence of diagnoses between subgroups. We tested the association between allergies and neurodevelopmental conditions and NLE with logistic regression models. A P-value of <0.006 was considered significant.

Results: We included 321 participants with anti-Ro antibody positive mothers. Median age at survey completion: 6 years, 51% female, 50% (n=162) NLE. No significant difference in any disease prevalence between children with and without NLE manifestations (p = 0.57) nor between children born to mothers with and without a rheumatic disease (p = 0.11). Disease prevalence was similar between the NLE and CHILD cohorts, allergic disease 30% vs 22%, p= 0.25, neurodevelopmental conditions 5% vs 2%, p=0.45, autoimmune disease 4% vs 2%, p=0.68.

Conclusions: In a large, multiethnic cohort of infants born to anti-Ro antibody positive mothers, there was no significant difference in the prevalence of allergic, neurodevelopmental, or autoimmune diseases between children with and without NLE, nor between those born to anti-Ro antibody positive mothers and a population-based, non-NLE cohort.