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World J Gastroenterol. Sep 28, 2019; 25(36): 5423-5433
Published online Sep 28, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i36.5423
Sexual health and fertility for individuals with inflammatory bowel disease
Romain Leenhardt, Pauline Rivière, Patrick Papazian, Isabelle Nion-Larmurier, Guillaume Girard, David Laharie, Philippe Marteau
Romain Leenhardt, Isabelle Nion-Larmurier, Philippe Marteau, Sorbonne Université, Hépatologie, Gastroentérologie et Saint Antoine IBD NeTwork, APHP, Hôpital St Antoine, Paris 75012, Ile-de-France, France
Pauline Rivière, David Laharie, CHU de Bordeaux, Hôpital Haut-Lévêque, Service d'Hépato-gastroentérologie, CMC Magellan, Bordeaux 33604, Pessac, France
Patrick Papazian, Hôpital Bichat, Service des maladies infectieuses et tropicales, APHP, Paris 75018, France
Guillaume Girard, Service de gynécologie obstétrique, Hôpital Armand Trousseau, Paris 75012, Ile-de-France, France
Author contributions: All authors equally contributed to this paper with conception and design of the study, literature review and analysis, drafting and critical revision and editing, and final approval of the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Leenhardt R received lecture fees from Abbvie, cofounder and shareholder of Augmented Endoscopy; Laharie D received board and lecture fees from Abbvie, Ferring, Janssen, MSD, Pfizer, Roche, Takeda; Philippe Marteau received lecture fees from Abbvie, Ferring, Janssen, MSD. Others have declared no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Philippe Marteau, MD, PhD, Doctor, Professor, Sorbonne Université, Hépatologie, Gastroentérologie et Saint Antoine IBD NeTwork, APHP, Hôpital St Antoine, 184 Faubourg St Antoine, Paris 75012, Ile-de-France, France. philippe.marteau@aphp.fr
Telephone: +33-1-49280000 Fax: +33-1-49282970
Received: June 8, 2019
Peer-review started: June 10, 2019
First decision: July 21, 2019
Revised: August 5, 2019
Accepted: August 19, 2019
Article in press: August 19, 2019
Published online: September 28, 2019
Processing time: 112 Days and 18.4 Hours
Abstract

The impact of a chronic disease such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) on sexual functioning and body image can significantly impair the quality of life of patients. This review considers the sexual and fertility aspects of IBD patients and their daily management. Modern IBD healthcare management should include appropriate communication on sexuality and consider psychological, physiological, and biological issues. Patients with IBD have less children than the general population, and voluntary childlessness is frequent. The most influential factors reported by IBD patients who experience fertility alteration are psychological and surgery-related problems. Pregnancy is a major concern for patients, and any pregnancy for IBD patients should be closely followed-up to keep the chronic disease in a quiescent state. Preconceptional consultation is of great help.

Keywords: Inflammatory bowel disease; Crohn’s disease; Ulcerative colitis; Fertility; Pregnancy; Sexuality

Core tip: The impact of inflammatory bowel diseases on sexual and fertility is of major concern for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. Quality of life of IBD patients can be impaired and their management remains challenging. Communication and counseling are crucial aspects in the management of all IBD patients and should be implemented in IBD centers.