Rheumatology-led pregnancy clinic: men perspective

Abstract

The birth of reproductive rheumatology as a subject of interest in rheumatology has led to improvement of clinical care for patients living with autoimmune rheumatic diseases and paved the way towards setting a specialized pregnancy service within the standard rheumatology practice. In contrast to women, where there has been wealth of literature regarding pregnancy, lactation, and birth outcomes, there is not as much focusing on male sexual health and outcomes among inflammatory arthritis patients. Challenges such as decrease ability to conceive, impaired fertility, erectile dysfunction, and other sexual problems have been raised by male patients living with autoimmune rheumatic diseases. This broad scope gives the reproductive health concept in men another expansion with views to include sexual health problems screening among men attending the standard outpatient rheumatology clinics. This article adds to the paucity of real-life experience and aims at discussing the sexual health from the men perspective and provides a practical approach towards screening, and assessment of men living with autoimmune diseases in standard day to day practice.

COVID-19 and fertility—at the crossroads of autoimmunity and thrombosis

“…The latter has led to emerging concerns regarding potential effect of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 on human fertility [ 1 , 2 ]). COVID-19 is also emerging as a disease that potentially triggers autoimmunity, and this raises the case for severe and lasting effects on various systems, including reproductive capacity, as seen with several autoimmune rheumatic diseases [ 3 – 5 ]. Moreover, several new drugs being used to treat these conditions may potentially have a bearing on future fertility, a risk that remains largely unexplored [ 6 , 7 ].…”