Abstract
Association and pathogenesis of antiphospholipid antibodies (APAs) in patients with Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) as well as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) suffering from unexplained spontaneous abortions is controversial. Moreover, the majority of the published evidence is based on the patient histories rather than the study groups. The main objective of the present study is to do a comparative analysis of the high levels of antiphospholipid antibodies (APAs) including anticardiolipin (ACA), anti-beta 2-glycoprotein-1 (beta 2 GP1), and Lupus anticoagulants (LA) and their association with the gestational age of abortion and duration past abortion in Saudi women. In this study, 100 women living in Makkah city, located in the Western region of Saudi Arabia, with a mean age of 30.5 +/- 12.60 years (mean +/- standard deviation), having a previous history of recurrent spontaneous abortions were enrolled as case group and 100 healthy pregnant women previously having one or more successful pregnancies were selected as control group. Based on the gestational age of the patient's miscarriages, our results revealed consistently and significantly high levels of ACA, beta 2 GP1, and LA, being greatest at more than 15 weeks when compared with 10 weeks and 11-15 weeks, respectively. Based on duration of past miscarriages, a slightly increased level was observed at <= 4 years after their first miscarriage. In addition, less or more equal levels of these antibodies were observed at 5-12 and more than 12 years in all the cases of miscarriages. We concluded an elevated pattern of APAs in these patients with an increase in the age of abortion. A comparison between the levels of ACA, beta 2 GP1, and LA further indicated a highly significant level of LA in all the cases of abortions (p < 0.0005).