Can I pass along the antiphospholipid antibody syndrome to my child while I am pregnant?
The answer to this question really has two parts. The first is that the antiphospholipid antibodies can be a cause for a miscarriage or other pregnancy complications in the second trimester. In that case it is not really the syndrome being passed to the baby, but rather that the mother’s antibodies have caused a blood clot or other complications in the placenta, and because of this the fetus cannot get oxygen and nutrients from the mother. But the other part of the question seems to relate to genetics. I do not believe this has been formally studied. We do know there is a higher tendency for a female child born to a mother with lupus to go on to develop lupus herself, but this occurrence is certainly not higher than one in 10. Specifically with regard to the antiphospholipid syndrome, the inheritance of the propensity to make antiphospholipid antibodies may in fact be higher than for babies born to otherwise healthy mothers. However, the chance of this happening is probably very low. –
