Reproductive Health Screening in Women with Autoimmune Diseases

La inmunosupresión es un factor de riesgo conocido para el cáncer de cérvix uterino. Las mujeres con enfermedades reumáticas están inmunosuprimidas por la enfermedad de base y los tratamientos recibidos. Uno de los principales factores de riesgo consiste en no acudir al programa de detección precoz del virus del papiloma humano. Los objetivos de este trabajo fueron evaluar la adherencia al programa de cribado de pacientes seguidas en consultas externas de reumatología, así como estudiar la prevalencia de lesiones cervicales y su asociación con distintos aspectos de la enfermedad y los tratamientos recibidos.

Estudio retrospectivo en el que se revisaron las historias clínicas electrónicas de pacientes con seguimiento activo en un hospital terciario con artritis reumatoide, artritis psoriásica y lupus eritematoso sistémico.

Se incluyó 307 pacientes. No se hallaron datos de asistencia al cribado en 42,4% (39,6% en artritis reumatoide, 43,8% en artritis psoriásica y 46% en lupus eritematoso sistémico). Entre las pacientes que asistieron al menos una vez (57,6%), la prevalencia de displasia de cérvix fue del 5,1%. No se encontró ningún caso de neoplasia. En el análisis de regresión logística simple no se encontró asociación entre las variables recogidas y la presencia de infección y displasia.

Es remarcable la ausencia de datos de asistencia al cribado de cáncer de cérvix en un porcentaje considerable de las pacientes con enfermedades reumáticas, lo cual dificulta el estudio del papel de la enfermedad y su tratamiento.

Immunosuppression is a known risk factor for cervical cancer. Women with rheumatic conditions are immunosuppressed due to the disease and the treatments. One of the main risk factors for this neoplasm is the lack of adherence to early detection programmes for human papillomavirus. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the adherence to the screening programme of patients in the Rheumatology Clinic, as well as to evaluate the prevalence of cervical lesions and their association with the different disease characteristics and the treatments received.

A descriptive retrospective study. The electronic medical history of patients actively being followed up in a tertiary hospital with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus were reviewed.

Finally, 307 patients were included. No data were found for screening programme attendance in up to 42.4% of the patients (39.6% in rheumatoid arthritis, 43.8% in psoriatic arthritis and 46% in systemic lupus erythematosus). Among the patients who attended the screening programme at least once (57.6%), the prevalence of cervical dysplasia was 5.1%. No cases of neoplasia were found. In the simple logistic regression analysis, there was no association between attending the screening programme and any variable. The study also showed no association between the variables collected and the presence of infection and dysplasia.

These results are influenced by the absence of screening data in a significant percentage of patients and by the low prevalence of dysplasia found in this series of patients with rheumatic diseases.

The objectives of this systematic review and meta-regression were: 1) to compare the prevalence of cervical HPV infection between SLE patients and healthy controls and 2) to evaluate the relationship between cervical HPV infection and traditional and SLE-related risk factors for cervical HPV infection in these patients.

We conducted a systematic literature review (PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Virtual Health Library and SciELO databases) following PRISMA guidelines and using meta-regression to investigate the pooled prevalence of cervical HPV infection in adult women with SLE. The articles included were independently evaluated by two investigators who extracted information on study characteristics, defined outcomes, risk of bias and summarized strength of evidence [Quality of evidence using the Oxford Centre for evidence-based medicine (EBM) Levels of Evidence]. Using meta-regression, we further analyzed whether factors such as multiple sexual partners and immunosuppressive therapy were associated with HPV prevalence. We evaluated the quality of evidence included using the Oxford Centre for EBM levels of evidence. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for studies providing data on HPV prevalence in women with SLE and in healthy controls.

A total of 687 articles were identified; 9 full-text articles examining the prevalence of cervical HPV infection in SLE women were included, comprising 751 SLE women. Eight studies employed PCR using general primers. The HPV prevalence varied from 3.1% to 80.7%. In the random effects meta-analysis, the pooled prevalence of cervical HPV infection in SLE vs. controls was 34.15% (95% CI: 19.6%–52.5%) vs. 15.3% (95% CI 0.79–27.8%), OR = 2.87 (95% CI: 2.20–3.76) p < .0001, with large between-study heterogeneity (I² = 95.4%). When only SLE women were evaluated, meta-regression showed no significant differences between patients with and without a background of multiple sexual partners and any immunosuppressive therapy. In addition, the prevalence of cervical HPV infection did not significantly differ between SLE patients on azathioprine or cyclophosphamide.

This meta-analysis suggests that the prevalence of cervical HPV infection is higher in SLE women than in healthy controls. However, multiple sexual partners and any immunosuppressive therapy or specific immunosuppressive treatment (azathioprine and cyclophosphamide) were not associated with the prevalence of cervical HPV infection.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) preferentially affects women during the childbearing years, making issues of contraception, fertility, and pregnancy of the utmost importance to women diagnosed with this chronic disease. It is clear that female sex hormones can affect the immune system and may impact the activity and trajectory of underlying SLE. With improvements in the monitoring and management of SLE, women with the disease have less functional impairments, end-organ damage, or reduced life expectancy; therefore, they increasingly feel healthy enough to bear and raise children. Pregnancy in women with SLE can carry higher risks of adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. Increased disease activity at the time of conception is among the most impactful and modifiable risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes. Additionally, a small subset of medications used for SLE are known teratogens and must be avoided during pregnancy. Therefore safe and effective contraception is critical to limit pregnancies to times of relative disease quiescence and while women are not taking teratogenic medications. Many commonly used medications to treat SLE have been shown to be compatible with pregnancy and can help to control underlying disease allowing for reduced risk of preeclampsia, prematurity, and small-for-gestational-age neonates. Similarly, menopause is a time of endogenous changes in female sex steroids that can affect SLE disease activity. Attention to uncomfortable menopausal symptoms as well as bone health and risk of hormonal malignancies are important aspects of managing women with SLE throughout their life spans.