The Impact of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and its Treatment on the Reproductive Process

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are disorders of unknown aetiology that give rise from non-serious pathologies to serious chronic diseases and may be associated to other pathologies of immunological origin. Among IBD, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis seem to reduce human fertility and some related reproductive processes. In this study we summarize the extensive literature dealing with i) the impact of these two peculiar IBD pathologies on human infertility, conception, pregnancy and delivery; ii) the risks associated with IBD therapies and miscarriages, pre-term delivery and congenital foetal malformations. The data reported show that the major risks in patients affected by IBD are associated with pre-term births and related complications. On the contrary, with some exceptions, the majority of studies do not support high toxicity risk associated with current medications and therapies.