Inflammatory bowel disease and pregnancy

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) comprising Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC), and IBD-unclassified (IBD-U) may appear at any age. As such, IBD commonly affects young patients in their reproductive age. Rate of voluntary childlessness among women with IBD far exceed that of the general population, as patients with IBD fear not only the effect of pregnancy on the course of inflammatory bowel disease, but also the increased risk of the offspring developing the disease, adverse pregnancy outcomes, the effect IBD treatment may have on the health and development of the infant or the risk of relapse during pregnancy and the influence of lactation on child development and disease course. This article aims at improving pre-conception counseling of patients with inflammatory bowel disease.