title: Ulcerative colitis and pregnancy outcomes in an Asian population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  As the prevalence of ulcerative colitis (UC) is much higher in Western countries than in Asian countries, previous investigations of pregnancy outcomes for women with UC were limited to people of European descent. This study was aimed at examining the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes (low birth weight (LBW), preterm birth, small for gestational age (SGA), and cesarean section (CS)) among Asian women with UC.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using a 3-year nationwide population-based database, we identified a total of 196 women who gave birth from 2001 to 2003, who were diagnosed with UC within 2 years before their index deliveries. A total of 1,568 unaffected pregnant women matched these cases according to age and year of delivery. Conditional logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate risk.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were significant differences between women with and without UC in terms of LBW (12.76% vs. 5.55, P<0.001) and preterm births (11.73% vs. 6.25%, P=0.004). After adjusting for infant gender, parity, maternal age, highest maternal educational level, parental age difference, maternal marital status, hypertension, diabetes, anemia, family monthly income, as well as conditioning on maternal age and year of delivery, the odds of LBW and preterm births for women with UC were 2.36 (95% confidence interval (CI)=1.45-3.82) and 1.90 (95% CI=1.16-3.11) times, respectively, those for unaffected women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although UC often follows a milder disease course in Asians than in people of European descent, we demonstrated that Asian women suffering from UC were still at risk of having preterm and LBW babies, compared with unaffected mothers.
authors.affiliation: School of Health Care Administration, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Herng-Ching
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Ching-Che Jason
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.forename: Shu-Fen
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Horng-Yuan
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Lou
authors.forename: Wen-Ta
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.forename: Yi-Hua
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002585:Cesarean Section; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult