NEW YORK (Reuters Health) — Women with inflammatory bowel disease are at increased risk for a number of adverse pregnancy outcomes, including premature birth and birth defects, according to the results of a review of previous studies.Inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. To better understand the effect of IBD on pregnancy outcomes, Dr. Paris P. Tekkis, from St. Mary's Hospital in London, and colleagues analysed data from 12 studies on the topic.

All told, the studies involved 3,907 women with IBD who were compared with 320,531 unaffected "controls."

Compared with controls, IBD patients were approximately twice as likely to have a low birth weight baby, a premature birth, to undergo a cesarean delivery, and to have a baby with congenital abnormalities, the team reports in the medical journal Gut.

They say how best to manage pregnancies in women with IBD needs to be settled with a definitive study. From this, they hope, will come "a new set of guidelines, to help both patients and their clinicians determine best practice."