diff --git a/numpydoc/numpydoc.py b/numpydoc/numpydoc.py
index 284c7da1..3af2f11f 100644
--- a/numpydoc/numpydoc.py
+++ b/numpydoc/numpydoc.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 import hashlib
 import itertools
 
-from docutils.nodes import citation, Text, section, comment, reference
+from docutils.nodes import citation, Text, section, comment, reference, inline
 import sphinx
 from sphinx.addnodes import pending_xref, desc_content
 from sphinx.util import logging
@@ -149,6 +149,10 @@ def clean_backrefs(app, doc, docname):
     for ref in _traverse_or_findall(doc, reference, descend=True):
         for id_ in ref["ids"]:
             known_ref_ids.add(id_)
+    # some extensions produce backrefs to inline elements
+    for ref in _traverse_or_findall(doc, inline, descend=True):
+        for id_ in ref["ids"]:
+            known_ref_ids.add(id_)
     for citation_node in _traverse_or_findall(doc, citation, descend=True):
         # remove backrefs to non-existent refs
         citation_node["backrefs"] = [
diff --git a/numpydoc/tests/test_numpydoc.py b/numpydoc/tests/test_numpydoc.py
index f92bd82f..fd8927d5 100644
--- a/numpydoc/tests/test_numpydoc.py
+++ b/numpydoc/tests/test_numpydoc.py
@@ -3,7 +3,15 @@
 from io import StringIO
 from pathlib import PosixPath
 from copy import deepcopy
-from numpydoc.numpydoc import mangle_docstrings, _clean_text_signature, update_config
+
+from docutils import nodes
+
+from numpydoc.numpydoc import (
+    mangle_docstrings,
+    _clean_text_signature,
+    update_config,
+    clean_backrefs,
+)
 from numpydoc.xref import DEFAULT_LINKS
 from sphinx.ext.autodoc import ALL
 from sphinx.util import logging
@@ -262,6 +270,22 @@ def test_update_config_exclude_str():
         update_config(app)
 
 
+def test_clean_backrefs():
+    """Check ids are not cleaned from inline backrefs."""
+    par = nodes.paragraph(rawsource="", text="")
+    inline_ref = nodes.inline(rawsource="", text="", ids=["id1"])
+    inline_ref += nodes.reference(rawsource="", text="[1]", refid="r123-1")
+    citation = nodes.citation(
+        rawsource="", docname="index", backrefs=["id1"], ids=["r123-1"]
+    )
+    citation += nodes.label("1")
+    citation += nodes.paragraph(rawsource="", text="Author. Title.")
+    par += inline_ref
+    par += citation
+    clean_backrefs(app=MockApp(), doc=par, docname="index")
+    assert "id1" in citation["backrefs"]
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     import pytest