Abstract
A proportion of female patients with rheumatic disorders treated with biological therapy are at the childbearing age. Pregnancy may raise a number of questions in practice.
Does pregnancy while on biological therapy pose a risk to the fetus? Should abortion be considered? Another question may arise as to the activity of the disease during pregnancy. This article attempts to answer these questions at least in part.
The only data available on biological therapy safety in pregnancy come from registries, surveys and case reports. In most cases, therapy was limited to the first trimester since discontinued after pregnancy had been confirmed.
A further limitation is co-therapy with another drug. No unambigous conclusions can be drawn from the existing data.
Nevertheless, it can be started that additional data have been obtained on the safety of biological therapy in pregnancy. The risk depends on the type of the drug and pregnancy stage.