Rheumatoid Arthritis and Nursing Care in Pregnancy

Pregnancy is one of the unique times in women’s life. Although pregnancy is a natural process, an additional disease in a woman causes her to be affected biologically, physiologically, physically and spiritually. Chronic illnesses that occur during this period and / or have precedence may affect the pregnancy negatively. Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the leading rheumatic diseases in women. Rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic autoimmune disease involving multiple joints. It is known that irregular menstrual cycle and early age menarche increases the risk of rheumatoid arthritis. Pregnancy is associated with changes in cortisol, estrogen and progesterone levels. Cortisol is initially believed to be associated with an improvement in rheumatoid arthritis activity during pregnancy. This review contains information about the factors affecting pregnancy and childbirth in pregnant women with rheumatoid arthritis. In addition, it was prepared to draw attention to the important points of drug treatment and nursing care of pregnant women with rheumatoid arthritis