Pregnancy before and after the diagnosis of inflammatory bowel diseases: Retrospective case-control study

Background and Aim: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) commonly affect women during the reproductive years. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the reproductive histories of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) considering pregnancies occurring before and after the diagnosis. Method: Case–control study evaluating IBD patients, interviewed by questionnaire about outcome of pregnancy and course of disease. Results: A total of 502 pregnancies from 199 patients in the prediagnosis group and 121 pregnancies from 90 patients in the post‐diagnosis group were respectively compared with 996 and 204 pregnancies recorded in a control population. In prediagnosis pregnancies, CD was associated with increased risk of preterm delivery (odds ratio [OR] 4.62, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.77–7.73; P