Knowledge about pregnancy and Parkinson’s disease
Women with Parkinson’s disease deserve to have access to accurate information about the interaction between Parkinson’s and pregnancy. This enables them to make well-informed decisions about a possible future pregnancy and to be better prepared. They deserve proper guidance both before and during pregnancy.
What do we want to achieve?
We designed the international Pregnancy and Parkinson’s registry (PregSpark) in collaboration between an international, multidisciplinary team of experts in the field of Neurology and Gynecology. Through this online registry, we collect information from women all around the world who are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and pregnant. We gather data on the course of the pregnancy as well as the health of both mother and child after birth. By combining all this information, we aim to provide better guidance and more accurate information in the future to women with Parkinson’s who are pregnant.
International registry
The PregSpark registry is online accessible globally. All women with Parkinson’s who are pregnant and have internet access can participate in the study. With this global accessibility, we aim to include as many women with Parkinson’s who are pregnant as possible.
Better advice
With the information gathered from the PregSpark registry, we can better inform women with Parkinson’s who are pregnant or are considering a pregnancy about the interaction between Parkinson’s and pregnancy. This knowledge enables women to make more informed decisions about pregnancy and to better prepare for the future.
Improved care
Ultimately, the results of the PregSpark registry will be used to develop guidelines on pregnancy and Parkinson’s disease. These guidelines will be made available to neurologists and other healthcare professionals to better guide and treat women with Parkinson’s during and after pregnancy. In this way, the PregSpark registry contributes to improving healthcare.
What is the current situation?
Current knowledge about Parkinson’s disease and pregnancy is primarily based on case reports. As a result, we are unable to provide women with Parkinson’s who are pregnant with sound, scientifically substantiated advice. Given the significant global increase in both the overall number of people with Parkinson’s and, in particular, the number of young women with Parkinson’s, there will be an increasing number of young women with Parkinson’s who have questions about the interaction between pregnancy and Parkinson’s. Therefore, it is crucial that we take steps now to address this knowledge gap.
How do we fill this gap of information?
Therefore, we have formed an international and multidisciplinary research group consisting of professionals on the field of neurology and gynecology, from The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
What do we need to achieve our goal?
To make the PregSpark registry a success, we need registrations. All women with Parkinson’s who are pregnant or have recently given birth (up to 8 weeks postpartum) can enroll in the registry. Are you a woman with Parkinson’s who is pregnant or has recently given birth? Sign up! Do you know a woman with Parkinson’s who is pregnant or has recently given birth? Share our call! Together, we can improve care for young women with Parkinson’s.
