Neuropsychological development of children born to mothers with autoimmune rheumatological diseases

Autoimmune rheumatic diseases mainly affect women of childbearing age and the assessment of their impact on the gestation and neurodevelopmental profile of children is a topic of current interest, as it allows to provide the couple planning a pregnancy with a more complete counselling. However, literature data on the outcome of these children are limited, partial and conflicting, especially with regard to long-term follow-up. According to some authors, there is an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder as a result of the transplacental passage of maternal autoantibodies, which is not confirmed by others. A negative impact on the primary relationship between mother and child and the psychoaffective development of children has also been reported. The goal of our multidisciplinary working group is to deepen the characteristics of the neuroevolutionary profile of infants, preschool and school children born to mother with autoimmune rheumatic diseases, stratifying the neuroevolutionary profile of children on the basis of the specific autoimmune pathology diagnosed in the mother. We then conducted studies to assess the development profile and neuropsychological aspects of children given by mothers with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Anti-Antibody Syndromephospholipids and chronic inflammatory arthritis and are being evaluated on children born to mother affected by Scleroderma.