Why is this information important?
It’s a loaded question because there are so many reasons. Health equity is a key driver for the Hub, as it seeks to gather feedback from diverse populations and then engage them in new research efforts that address unmet needs.
Dr. Anick Bérard notes that all of these drugs are approved by Health Canada, but they are approved to be sold and prescribed without data on pregnant women.
DELIVERED
“We have an annual meeting, and we basically put everyone in a bag, and we shake it and we talk to each other and we have decision makers, Health Canada, we have the SOGC (Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada) and that’s why we cover such a wide range, from research to policy, from guidelines to application. The most important thing is that we identify, because we talk to people who have conditions that need to be treated,” she explains.
“Now I wouldn’t do any research without someone with experience, that’s where it starts.”
She gives the example of preeclampsia, that is, high blood pressure during pregnancy. The highest prevalence of preeclampsia occurs in black pregnant women. Low-dose aspirin, a simple drug, has been shown to be very effective, and in this case randomized controlled trials of pregnant women were conducted to test this.
“But in the black community, taking medications is not culturally acceptable,” she notes. A black woman who participated in one of the focus groups explained that she developed preeclampsia during her first pregnancy and had a difficult pregnancy. When she became pregnant again, she took the low dose aspirin as advised by her doctor. However, she did not have preeclampsia and had a beautiful baby. In her third pregnancy, her doctor reminded her to take the low-dose aspirin because she was at risk for preeclampsia.
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