Irritable bowel disease treatments are safe for pregnant women and babies during pregnancy, according to a new study. This means that for women who suffer from IBD and who were once asked to stop taking biologics two months before they delivered because of a believed risk of transferring the to the baby and causing ill effects, this no longer has to be done.

According to researchers from UCSF Colitis and Crohn's Disease Center and Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, women who take biologics, thiopurines, or both during pregnancy to keep their IBD under control are not at a higher risk of having complications during pregnancy.

This is good news for those who suffer from IBD, as until just a few years ago, it was required for pregnant women to stop treatment in the months leading up to delivery because doctors wanted to mitigate the baby's exposure to the therapies.

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When a retrospective study was published in 2020 by showed that there was no difference in outcomes at birth between those who were not exposed to IBD therapies and those who were, researchers then stated that women should remain on their medications to remain as healthy as possible during pregnancy.

This new study, published in the journal, , not only found the same in regards to biologics but for thiopurines as well.

For those who suffer from IBD or , biologics are used to "control and maintain remission" of the disease, according to . Thiopurines target T-cells, which are a known cause of IBD, per the publication.

From 2007 to 2019:

•Researchers enrolled over 1,700 pregnant women in their study

•Of those pregnancies, there were 1,490 who made it to term and 1,431 live births

•At the one-year mark, there were just over 1,000 available to determine the outcomes of being exposed to IBD therapies

To determine the outcomes, according to , the researchers looked at "congenital malformations, spontaneous abortions, pre-birth, low birth weight and infant infections among pregnancies exposed and unexposed in utero to biologics, thiopurines or combination therapy."

According to the , of the pregnancies:

•242 women used thiopurines

•642 used biologics

•227 used both

•379 did not use any IBD treatment therapies

What was found was that there was no increased risk for babies exposed to the therapies versus those who were not.

What was found, however, was that IBD and itself did show an increased risk for preterm labor and miscarriage versus those who did not have the diseases.

Therefore, researchers concluded that it was not only safe but necessary for women to stay on their specific therapies to battle IBD and Crohn's disease during pregnancy to remain as healthy as possible. The more stable women are during pregnancy, the less risk there is to not only themselves but their babies as well.

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