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. 2023 Jun 26;12(13):4267.
doi: 10.3390/jcm12134267.

Factors Associated with Family Planning Status and Voluntary Childlessness in Women of Childbearing Age with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Christian P Selinger  1   2 , Helen Steed  3   4 , Satvinder Purewal  4 , Rebecca Homer  4 , Nihr BioResource  5 , Matthew Brookes  3   4
Affiliations

Factors Associated with Family Planning Status and Voluntary Childlessness in Women of Childbearing Age with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Christian P Selinger et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Background: Women with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) have fewer children and stay childless more often. The decision-making process around family planning choices remains incompletely understood.

Methods: We examined family status in women who at recruitment to the UK IBD Bioresource had not had children yet via an electronic survey. The primary outcome was the proportion of women with voluntary childlessness. Secondary outcomes were factors associated with family planning status.

Results: Of 326 responders, 10.7% had either given birth, were currently pregnant or were currently trying to conceive; 12.6% were planning to conceive within 12 months; 54.4% were contemplating conception in the distant future (vague plans); and 22.3% were voluntarily childless. Factors associated with family planning status fell into three areas: general background (age, household income, perceived support to raise a child), relationship status (sexual orientation, being single, not cohabiting, perception of being 'in the right relationship to raise a child', perception of a good sex life) and the expression of having a child as a goal in life. On binary logistics regression analysis with voluntary childlessness versus vague family plans as the outcomes of choice, having a household income of <£30,000 (p = 0.046), not seeing a child as a life goal (p < 0.0001) and identifying as lesbian or bisexual (p = 0.047) were independent predictors of voluntary childlessness.

Conclusions: Clinicians should consider sexual orientation, income, younger age, current relationship and lack of expression of having a child as a life goal as important factors for family planning when providing care. Pre-pregnancy advice should be made widely available for women with IBD.

Keywords: family planning; inflammatory bowel disease; pregnancy; voluntary childlessness.

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Conflict of interest statement

CPS has received unrestricted research grants from Warner Chilcott, Janssen and AbbVie, has provided consultancy to Warner Chilcott, Dr Falk, AbbVie, Takeda, Fresenius Kabi, Galapagos, Ferring, RedX, Arena and Janssen, and had speaker arrangements with Warner Chilcott, Dr Falk, AbbVie, MSD, Pfizer, Celltrion and Takeda. MJB has received grants and travel expenses from Vifor International and Tillots Pharma, outside of the submitted work. He has also received additional grants from NIHR, Norgine Pharma and Pharmacosmos outside of the submitted work.

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