New articles from our ePAG, Dr. Silvia Aguilera!

Recently, our ERN ReCONNET ePAG representative for Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS), Dr. Silvia Aguilera, has published a very interesting article in a special edition on pregnancy of The Lancet Rheumatology, the world-leading public health journal, on the challenges of designing and conducting cohort studies and clinical trials in pregnant populations.
In particular, the “Challenges of designing and conducting cohort studies and clinical trials in populations of pregnant people” article explores the pregnancy complications (eg, miscarriages, fetal deaths, preterm births, and hypertensive disorders in pregnancy) in patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases; despite the need to understand the use of drugs to treat rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases in pregnancy, clinical trials in pregnancy are rare, therapeutics in pregnancy are understudied, and pregnant individuals are routinely excluded as premarketing trial participants. Moreover, data on the effectiveness and safety of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs are most often based on post-marketing observational data. In this relevant paper, the authors discuss the changing landscape around trials in pregnancy and present possible solutions to such challenges.
The article can also be downloaded here (202406 – The Lancet – Pregnancy and Rheumatic Diseases 2).

As a result of this publication, The Lancet offered Dr. Aguilera the possibility of being in the profile of the issue to talk about her experience with  pregnancy and she mentioned ERN ReCONNET; this additional article will be open until July 31st, so you can read it here.

At ERN ReCONNET, Dr. Aguilera also co-Chair of the ERN ReCONNET Young Working Group together with Prof. Vanessa Smith from University Hospital Ghent – UZ Gent (Belgium) and co-lead with  ePAG Ilaria Galetti the ERN ReCONNET ePAG group. In addition, with a background in Chemical and Industrial Engineering and a PhD in Materials Science, Silvia is since 2020 the Vice-President of the Spanish Antiphospholipid Association (SAF España).

ERN ReCONNET is proud of such achievements and
as Network we congratulate to Silvia for this incredible work done,
we are proud of you!

 

More info on APS can be found here.
Details on the ERN ReCONNET resources developed on pregnancy and rheumatology can be seen here.