Grant: DRA : Canada Graduate Research Scholarship - Doctoral Program (CGRS D)

Arthritis is a group of diseases that causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling, and it often affects females during their childbearing years. To manage symptoms and keep the disease under control, strong medications are used. In recent decades, a new, innovative group of arthritis drugs named biologics have become available and are very effective for treating arthritis diseases. Since then, although we are starting to see biologics may be safe to use during pregnancy, research shows that many patients still stop taking them at first sign of pregnancy. This is a concern because when these diseases are not properly kept under control during pregnancy, it leads to harm in moms and babies. However, it is not known whether stopping or continuing biologics during pregnancy is better-or safer-for both moms and babies. This creates uncertainty when doctors and patients are making treatment decisions or family planning. To solve this problem, I will use big (i.e., large-scale) healthcare data on the entire population of British Columbia to discover whether stopping or continuing biologics during pregnancy causes harm on the health of mothers and their babies. My findings will provide much-needed answers to help doctors and patients make better, safer decisions during family planning and pregnancy.