Abstract Background Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) affects young individuals, with an incidence peak between the ages of 15 and 40, coinciding with the female reproductive period. The clinical, therapeutic, and reproductive implications for women of childbearing age with IBD are significant, due to the potential impact of the disease and the risks associated with treatment, surgery, and pregnancy. There is scarce regional information regarding the gynaecological and obstetric characteristics and their relationship with the clinical and therapeutic phenotype of the disease in Latin American populations. A detailed characterisation of these patients in tertiary referral centres can contribute to optimizing comprehensive care strategies and safe reproductive planning for women. Methods A cross-sectional, observational and analytical study was carried out at the IBD Clinic of the General Hospital of Mexico. Women of childbearing age (15 to 49 years) with a confirmed diagnosis of IBD, in active follow-up between March 2023 and June 2025, were included. Clinical, demographic, and gynaecological and obstetric data were obtained through direct interviews. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS v. 29. Quantitative variables were compared using the independent samples Student’s t-test. For qualitative variables, chi-squared tests or Fisher’s exact test were employed. A p value of 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Of a cohort of 298 IBD patients in active follow-up, 61 (20.5%) corresponded to women of childbearing age; 50 patients (82.0%) had Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and 11 (18.0%) had Crohn’s Disease (CD). In the UC group, the most common presentation was pancolitis (70.0%), whereas in the CD group, stenosing behaviour (54.5%) and ileocolonic location (36.4%) predominated. The need for surgery was more frequent in CD patients (45.5%). Specifically, right hemicolectomy was exclusive to the CD group (p = 0.031). No significant differences were identified between both groups concerning age, reproductive variables, extraintestinal manifestations or the presence of stoma. The proportion of patients who had prenatal counselling was 42.6%, with no statistically significant difference between the groups. Conclusion In this cohort, 20.5% of IBD patients in active follow-up were women of childbearing age. Clinical and therapeutic differences between UC and CD were identified, highlighting the higher frequency of pancolitis in UC, and of stenosing phenotype and major surgery in CD. Less than half of the patients received prenatal counselling, which underscores the need to reinforce reproductive advice and multidisciplinary approaches in this group. Conflict of interest: Rosales, Paola: No conflict of interest Gonzalez, Emmanuel: No conflict of interest Rodriguez, Hector: No conflict of interest Contreras Aviles, Estefania: No conflict of interest Sebastian, Valeria: No conflict of interest Hernandez, Victor: No conflict of interest Chida, Jesus: No conflict of interest Lopez, Yazmin: No conflict of interest Jimenez, Billy: No conflict of interest Dr. De Leon Rendon, Jorge Luis: Dr. Jorge Luis De León Rendón is a member of Advisory Boards, key opinion leader, and speaker for Abbvie Mexico, Takeda Mexico, and Janssen Mexico. He has served as a key opinion leader and lecturer for Schwabe Pharma Mexico, Servier, Pfizer, Alfasigma, and Siegfried Rhein Mexico. He has received support for research manuscript publication and editing from Takeda and Schwabe Pharma Mexico. Additionally, he has coordinated research studies and medical education programs with Shire, Bristol Myers Squibb, Takeda, Schwabe Pharma, Abbvie, Janssen, MSD, and Roche.
Rosales et al. (2026) studied this question.