What are people's opinions on taking part in medical research whilst pregnant?

[LukeNewcUni]

Hi everyone,

Not sure if I am posting in the correct place or not here, or even if this is an appropriate topic for a discussion? Apologies if not. I have just been in a meeting which discussed pregnant women taking part in medical research and it got me thinking, what are peoples opinions on taking part in medical research during pregnancy?

I am sure that this would be looked at by the ethics board who pass any research, so it really depends on the research. You would have to give the area for me to give further comment. But usually, any research with children, vulnerable people, or pregnant women would have some rigorous guidelines. So I guess if it went through proper procedures, vetted etc, open with what it was and hoped to achieve, outlined any risks etc, then it might have a place ...

I was asked to take part in 2 research projects, I politely declined both. I am sure like iwantavuvezela says they would be passed by the ethics board, but the ones I was invited on involved me taking extra medication. A big no thank you! My mum was asked to do this when she was expecting my eldest sister, test a new drug called thelidomide (sp) they said lucky for her, my mum also politely declined.

i wouldnt consent to anything that involved medication

if i had to take a medicine for a medical reason i wouldnt mind being used in its pregnancy research / wrrite ups etc.

I am happy for students to see me during antenatal care, and post natal appointments but wouldnt let a student be present during my birth either. (home birth, but would also decline if i had to be in a hospital setting)

I've been involved in research but it's only been questionnaires whilst pg. then an MRI scan on baby when s/he is 3-4 months. To see the effects of social interaction on their brains. If it was anything invasive/medication based I would have declined.

I don't think there is any one answer for this, there are so many variables.

I wouldn't do anything which involved medication, extra visits etc., but often they do longitudinal studies where they use information they're already collecting from you. I'd do that if it seemed useful.

Imagine being one of the first women to have anti-d, a flu jab, pethadine or insulin in pregnancy - things that many pregnant woman take for granted now.

I'm disabled probably due to the medications my mum took in pregnancy but that wasn't a trial and she needed those medications to get through so without them I wouldn't be here at all.

I'm taking part in this: www.crh.ed.ac.uk/empowar/

It involves extra visits, but I got to see a detailed MRI scan of my baby the other week, which was a nice bonus. If it helps other women in the future, and it's safe (which this one is), I don't have a problem with it.

I took part in a clinical trial when pg with dc1, it just involved putting the scanner on my chest for a few minutes after my 12 week scan. I can't remember exactly what they were looking for it was at uclh in 2009 if that rings any bells for anyone? I was happy to take part as I was there for a scan anyway and it only took 2 minutes but I wouldn't take any medication unless I needed it anyway.

I took part in a clinical research trial when I was pregnant with DS1; extra scans, extra blood/urine tests, filling out food diaries etc. Just involved giving up my time in the main. I wouldn't take trial medication etc. though.

I'm in the EMPOWaR study too. For me, its involved a couple of extra glucose tolerance tests, some measurements and taking some tablets. The tablets are either a placebo or metformin, which is a medication widely given to pregnant women with gestational diabetes anyway. (So far I do not have gestationak diabetes though.)

I was more than happy to be involved, and the medication doesn't scare me as it is safe in pregnancy. I wouldn't do a study that was seeing if a medication was safe or not (although I can't see any ethics board approving that anyway), but I'm happy to do a study investigating alternative ways to use a known safe medication.

I was also offered the opptimum trial (to do with pre-term labour), but turned that down as I really wanted to do EMPOWaR and didn't want to be on 2 clinical trials.

Generally I'm all for it as it means extra check ups/safety nets
I'm on one about PND, its nice to be on it because if there's any issues they'll be more likely to be flagged up early because of the study

I didn't think they did drug trials on pregnant women?

I think it depends on what it is for.
I was asked to take part in a medical trial for my asthma but as I was pregnant I declined I am funny about paracetamol unless I really need it so this wasn't for me. I am a bit overcautious when pregnant though!
I think if it is more of a monitoring thing it would be fine but ethically the only things approved should be fairly risk free.
I personally wouldn't do any drug trials while pregnant though - my personal opinion though. x x