Incidence of pregnancy and disease-modifying therapy exposure trends in women with multiple sclerosis: A contemporary cohort study

Turkoglu, Recai/0000-0001-9724-851X; McCombe, Pamela/0000-0003-2704-8517; Jokubaitis, Vilija G./0000-0002-3942-4340; Oreja-Guevara, Celia/0000-0002-9221-5716; Ramo-Tello, Cristina/0000-0001-8643-5053; Vucic, Steve/0000-0002-8323-873X; Nguyen, Ai-Lan/0000-0003-0378-6005; Kalincik, Tomas/0000-0003-3778-1376; van Pesch, Vincent/0000-0003-2885-9004; Skibina, Olga/0000-0002-6275-8138; Lugaresi, Alessandra/0000-0003-2902-5589; Slee, Mark/0000-0003-4323-2453 WOS: 000459833100045 PubMed: 30623864 Background: Exposure to disease-modifying therapy (DMT) during early pregnancy in women with relapsing-remitting MS (RAMS) may be increasing. Objective: To retrospectively determine incidence of pregnancy, DMT exposure and pregnancy outcomes in women with RAMS. Methods: We identified all women with RAMS aged 15-45 years in the MSBase Registry between 2005-2016. Annualised pregnancy incidence rates were calculated using Poisson regression models. DMT exposures and pregnancy outcomes were assessed. Results: Of 9,098 women meeting inclusion criteria, 1,178 (13%) women recorded 1,521 pregnancies. The annualised incidence rate of pregnancy was 0.042 (95% CI 0.040, 0.045). A total of 635 (42%) reported pregnancies were conceived on DMT, increasing from 27% in 2006 to 62% in 2016. The median duration of DMT exposure during pregnancy was 30 days (IQR: 9, 50). There were a higher number of induced abortions on FDA pregnancy class C/D drugs compared with pregnancy class B and no DMT (p = 0.010); but no differences in spontaneous abortions, term or preterm births. Conclusions: We report low pregnancy incidence rates, with increasing number of pregnancies conceived on DMT over the past 12-years. The median duration of DMT exposure in pregnancy was relatively short at one month. National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia centre for research excellence grant [1001216]; BiogenBiogen; MerckMerck & Company; NovartisNovartis; RocheRoche Holding; Sanofi-Genzyme This study was financially supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia centre for research excellence grant [1001216]. The MSBase Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation that receives support from Biogen, Merck, Novartis, Roche and Sanofi-Genzyme. The study was conducted separately and apart from the guidance of the sponsors.