Research to improve patient concerns and outcomes in arthritis in pregnancy
In the UK there are around 14,500 female patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who are of a child-bearing age.
Understandably, people have concerns regarding RA and pregnancy, such as:
· which drugs are safe to take during pregnancy and while breastfeeding
· the effect RA may have on a baby
· what effects pregnancy will have on RA.
Older research studies reported that the majority of patients with RA experienced a significant improvement in their symptoms during pregnancy.
More recent studies using objective measures of disease activity, such as counting the number of swollen and tender joints, have shown that fewer patients with RA improve in pregnancy than was previously thought.
However, measuring and predicting disease activity during pregnancy remains difficult. For example, swollen joint counts in pregnancy may be affected by swelling of hands and feet that is normal in pregnancy.
Therefore, other methods to assess disease activity during pregnancy are needed. One method may be ultrasound scanning of joints. Another could be blood tests to identify abnormalities in patients' immune systems that could increase disease activity during pregnancy.
Recently, evidence has shown the importance of keeping arthritis under control during pregnancy in order to promote the best outcomes for both mother and baby.
We are a team at University College London designing a research project aiming to address these issues by coupling the accurate measurement of disease activity in pregnant RA patients with laboratory research to identify immune system abnormalities associated with different disease activity levels.
To make sure we study the issues that are most important to patients with RA in pregnancy, we would be very grateful if you could take two minutes to answer this short questionnaire.
We will run this survey for 2 - 3 months and will then write up the results for publication in a scientific journal.