Women with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease have lower success rates per embryo transfer when undergoing assisted reproductive technology treatments compared with women who do not have inflammatory bowel disease, according to a study published in the journal Gut.
Sonia Friedman, MD, a gastroenterology physician from Odense University Hospital in Denmark, the Crohn's and Colitis Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues used Danish registries to identify a nationwide cohort of all women with an embryo transfer between Jan. 1, 1994 and Jan. 1, 2013. The cohort consisted of 432 women with ulcerative colitis who underwent 1,360 assisted reproductive technology treatments, 182 women with Crohn's disease who underwent 554 ART treatments and 52,489 women without IBD who underwent 148,540 ART treatments.
Here are five points:
1. Compared with women without IBD, the chances of having a live birth for each embryo transfer in women receiving ART treatment was significantly reduced in women with UC.
2. The chances were reduced in women with CD, but the reduction was not statistically significant in the full model.
3. The chances of having a live birth for each embryo transfer were significantly reduced in women who underwent surgery for CD prior to ART treatment.
4. The risk for preterm birth was significantly increased for women with UC, however, no increased risk for adverse birth outcomes was observed in the women with CD.
5. In conclusion, women with UC and CD have a reduced chance of a live birth per ART treatment cycle compared with women without IBD.