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When I was a little girl, my mum and dad had a friend called Betty. Betty lived every day
of her life in severe pain from rheumatoid arthritis. Sadly, she died before these drugs
were invented. These drugs - called biologic drugs - could have changed her life. However,
like every medicine the doctors prescribe, there's a risk that these drugs could cause
side effects. And a particular concern with these drugs is whether they might actually
cause cancer, which is really scary. However, just hearing about one or two people that
take these drugs and get cancer doesn't tell us anything, because those people might have
got cancer anyways. So in Manchester, we thought there had to be a better way to do this. So
instead, we are now not following one or two people, we are now following over 20,000 people
in the country, receiving these drugs, and - you know what - the good news is, so far,
it looks like these drugs actually might not cause cancer, which is really good news. So
the type of research I do is called epidemiology and what that means is I follow the health
of not just a few people, but of thousands of people both in this country and around
the world. And it helps us answer really important questions about your health, so that when
you are seeing your doctor we can help you make informed decisions about your healthcare.
Thanks.