Men With Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Sexual Function, Fertility, Medication Safety, and Prostate Cancer

• Published in: The American journal of gastroenterology Vol. 115; no. 4; pp. 526 - 534
• Main Authors: Hammami, Muhammad B, Mahadevan, Uma
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wolters Kluwer Health Medical Research, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 01.04.2020
• Subjects: Depression - complications; Erectile dysfunction; Fertility; Gastroenterology; Gastrointestinal Agents - adverse effects; Humans; Infertility, Male - chemically induced; Infertility, Male - etiology; Inflammatory bowel disease; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - complications; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - drug therapy; Laparoscopy; Male; Mental depression; Methotrexate - adverse effects; Ostomy; Patients; Prostate cancer; Prostatic Neoplasms - etiology; Quality of life; Rheumatoid arthritis; Risk Factors; Robotics; Self image; Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological - etiology; Sulfasalazine - adverse effects; Surgery
• ISSN: 0002-9270; 1572-0241
• DOI: 10.14309/ajg.0000000000000515

Half of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are men, yet less attention has been focused on their sexual issues despite higher rates of sexual dysfunction and infertility than the general population. Depression and IBD disease activity are the most consistently reported risk factor for sexual dysfunction among men with IBD. Methotrexate and sulfasalazine have been rarely associated with impotence. Sulfasalazine reversibly reduces male fertility. No other medications used in IBD significantly affect fertility in humans. There is no increase in adverse fetal outcomes among offspring of fathers with IBD. Patients with IBD seem to be at a higher risk for prostate cancer; therefore, screening as recommended for high-risk patients should be considered.