Lower Success Rates with Assisted Reproductive Treatments in Women With IBD

Women suffering from ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) experience lower success rates per embryo transfer when they undergo assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatments than women who do not have inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

The study published in Gut assessed data from Danish health registries of women who had an embryo transfer between January 1994 and January 2013.

Sonia Friedman, MD, Odense University Hospital in Denmark, and colleagues evaluated for differences in the chance of live births and unfavorable birth outcomes in women with UC and CD compared with those who did not have IBD.

Findings suggested that compared with women without IBD, the probability of having a live birth for each embryo transfer in women who received ART treatment was significantly reduced in women with UC.

Additionally, the risk for preterm birth was notably increased for women with UC.

The authors concluded, “Our results suggest that women with UC and CD receiving ART treatments cannot expect the same success for each embryo transfer as other infertile women. Women with CD may seek to initiate assisted reproductive technology treatment before needing CD surgery. Increased prenatal observation in UC pregnancies after ART should be considered.”