Women suffering from Lupus, also known as Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a multisystem autoimmune disease can safely become pregnant and also breastfeed their newborns but the pregnancies need to be planned in consultation with doctors so that the drugs can be modified well in advance, medicos from the AIIMS said here.

SLE mainly affects mostly women in their reproductive age. It can involve any organ of the body and, if not treated, can be life threatening also. Symptoms of the SLE include fever, oral ulcers, skin rashes, joint pain, hair fall and kidney involvement.

Dr Ranjan Gupta, Associate Professor in the Department of Rheumatology at AIIMS Delhi, said pregnancy is a major concern among lupus patients coming to the hospital as they are mostly women in their child-bearing age group.

The problem is further compounded by the fact that the medicines like mycophenolate and cyclophosphamide used in the treatment of SLE can cause deformities in children if taken during conception. Therefore, an unplanned pregnancy can be a physical and emotional challenge for these patients, Dr Gupta said.

 “On the other hand, if pregnancies are planned well in consultation with their rheumatologists according to the disease state, the drugs can be modified well in advance and women patients with SLE can not only have successful pregnancy but can also breastfeed their newborns,” he said on the sidelines of an event at AIIMS, Delhi. At a patient education program themed ‘Patients with Lupus also can lead a normal life’ organised at AIIMS, Delhi for SLE patients on Saturday, doctors highlighted that regular follow-up with uninterrupted treatment is the key for long-term remission in this chronic rheumatic disease.

It was inaugurated by the Dean (Academics) Dr Kaushal Verma and Head of the Department of Transplant Immunology and Immunogenetics Dr D K Mitra.

Dr Siddharth Jain, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at AIIMS said, “These patients also can lead a normal life provided they visit their doctors regularly and continue the prescribed treatment.

Most of the time, the disease flares are the outcomes of non-compliance.

Dermatologist Dr Neetu Bhari discussed the skin manifestations and their management whereas psychiatrist Dr Rohit Verma highlighted the under-recognised issue of depression among lupus patients. Nephrologist Dr Arun Kumar discussed the renal involvement in SLE.

Most patients in India have to bear healthcare costs as out of pocket expenses.

“While this has been recently addressed by a new policy that offers low-cost insurance at the national level to everyone within the social security scheme of the Government, a lot of rheumatological conditions at present do not have coverage under this scheme... This stems from the rare nature of these diseases and a lack of awareness even in policy making circles. Though SLE has recently been included in this scheme, the benefits are available only once the diagnosis is made and only for inpatient care,” as per a study by Dr Amita Agarwal, Rudrarpan Chatterjee, Amita Aggarwal from Department of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology at SGPGIMS, Lucknow.