Impact of pregnancy on health-related quality of life of patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the impact of pregnancy on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of women with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).


METHODS
This was a retrospective study in a tertiary referral center and included women with ≥2 short inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire (SIBDQ) scores obtained during their pregnancy. Regression models were used to identify independent factors influencing SIBDQ scores and changes of SIBDQ scores at different time points.


RESULTS
A total of 32 women (23 CD, 9 UC) with a mean age at pregnancy of 29.4 years and a mean disease duration of 7.8 years were included in the study. The mean pre-pregnancy SIBDQ score in our cohort was 49, which was significantly lower than the values during (55, P < 0.001) and post-pregnancy (53, P = 0.01). The score during pregnancy directly correlated with the pre-pregnancy SIBDQ score (correlation co-efficient 0.50, P = 0.003). Half of the patients had a ≥7-point increase in SIBDQ scores during pregnancy. Change in SIBDQ scores during pregnancy was inversely related to the pre-pregnancy score (-0.47, 95% CI -0.75 to -0.20) and changes in disease activity during pregnancy (-1.80, 95% CI -0.75 to -0.20).


CONCLUSIONS
Half of the pregnant women with IBD in our cohort experienced improvement in their HRQoL. Pre-pregnancy HRQoL is predictive of HRQoL during pregnancy, supporting the need for optimizing disease activity prior to conception.
Gastrointestinal Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Ashwin N
AN
Ananthakrishnan
Yelena
Y
Zadvornova
Amar S
AS
Naik
Mazen
M
Issa
Lilani P
LP
Perera
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies