Abstract

This Guidance provides information on the effects of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in women of reproductive age with particular reference to contraceptive choices, fertility and pregnancy. For comprehensive advice on the management of patients with IBD, readers should refer to guidelines from the British Society for Gastroenterology.1 A key to the grades of recommendations, based on levels of evidence, is given at the end of this document. Details of the methods used by the Clinical Effectiveness Unit (CEU) in developing this Guidance, and evidence tables summarising the research basis of the recommendations, are available on the Faculty website (www.ffprhc.org.uk). Abbreviations used include: 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA), body mass index (BMI), bone mineral density (BMD), combined oral contraception (COC), confidence interval (CI), copper-bearing intrauterine contraceptive device (IUD), Crohn's disease (CD), depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA), dual X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), emergency contraception (EC), gastrointestinal (GI), incidence rate ratio (IRR), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (IUS), odds ratio (OR), progestogen-only emergency contraception (POEC), progestogen-only pill (POP), anti-tumour necrosis factor-alpha (anti- TNF-a), ulcerative colitis (UC), venous thromboembolism (VTE), World Health Organization (WHO).