Neurocognitive abnormalities in offspring of mothers with systemic lupus erythematosus

Offspring of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients delivered during follow-up in the lupus clinic from 1973 to 1998 were assessed for SLE and by age-appropriate neurocognitive tests. Nine domains were evaluated. Controls, matched for age, sex, race and socio-economic status, underwent the same neurodevelopmental/neuropsychological evaluation. A domain was considered 'abnormal' if at least one of the tests in the domain yielded abnormal results. The number of offspring with normal/abnormal results was compared in each of the nine domains using McNemar test for matched analysis. In addition, an unmatched analysis using chi-square tests was performed. Logistic regression was run on both the matched pairs and unmatched groups to adjust for possible gender differences. A total of 106 children, 49 pairs of SLE offspring and matched controls (20 male and 29 female) and an extra eight offspring (three male and five female) of SLE patients without a control match were included. Of the 57 SLE offspring, none were diagnosed with SLE. The matched analyses of the neuropsychological domains revealed impairment in SLE children compared with matched controls in two of the nine domains: learning and memory and behaviour.