This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Anti-TNF therapy shows promise in pregnant women with IBD
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
No congenital defects were found in children born to women who underwent anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy during pregnancy to treat inflammatory bowel disease, according to research from Canberra Hospital in Australia.
Researchers studied 14 pregnant IBD patients with Crohn’s disease and five with ulcerative colitis. All but two of the patients were in remission before pregnancy; one was hospitalized in the third trimester with acute UC and treated with infliximab, one with severe acute UC requiring colectomy had a stillbirth. The mean age of the women was 34.3 years in patients with CD and 32.6 years in patients with UC, and one patient was still pregnant at the time of publishing.
Adalimumab was prescribed to eight (57%) of the patients with CD and one (20%) of the patients with UC. Infliximab was prescribed for six (43%) of the patients with CD and four (80%) of the patients with UC.
Some patients were prescribed azathioprine (three with CD; two with UC) and prednisolone (five with CD; three with UC) as concomitant therapies.
Only three (21%) patients with CD continued use of anti-TNF therapy; one discontinued in the first trimester and 10 discontinued use in the third trimester. Four (80%) patients with UC ended anti-TNF treatment in the third trimester.
No congenital defects were present in any of the children, and one (7%) patient with CD and one (20%) patient with UC gave birth preterm. Low birth weight was present in seven (50%) children of mothers with CD and in two (40%) children of mothers with UC.
The researchers concluded that anti-TNF treatment can be used safely during pregnancy.
Disclosure: Relevant financial disclosures were not provided.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts