Is there an association between the ‘October 7th’ events and IVF outcomes in Israel?

Research question

Is there an association between the ‘October 7th’ 2023 events and IVF outcomes in Israel?

Design

in this retrospective cohort study the study group was women treated during the 4 weeks after ‘October 7th’, compared with a matched control group treated between 1 January 2021 and 6 October 2023. Each study group participant was matched with three separate control subjects of the same female age at oocyte retrieval, with a matching body mass index (BMI), IVF cycle number and ovarian reserve parameters.

Results

The study included 580 patients. The 145 women who underwent oocyte retrieval or frozen embryo transfer after 7 October 2023 were compared with 435 women treated before 7 October. The mean age of the study group was 35.6 ± 5.9 years, and the mean BMI 25.01 ± 5.60 kg/m². Pregnancy rates per embryo transfer were similar between the groups (22.4% versus 30.5%, P = 0.28 in fresh cycles; 16.9% versus 27.1%, P = 0.12 in frozen embryo transfers). Among women who underwent oocyte retrieval there were no differences in the ovarian stimulation protocols (P = 0.95), number of oocytes retrieved (P = 0.16) or number of fertilized oocytes (P = 0.34). There was no difference in the rate of good-quality embryos between groups (P = 0.053). Among women who underwent frozen embryo transfers, during the study period more patients had natural cycles (52.5% versus 24%, P < 0.001), and there was no difference in maximal endometrial thickness before embryo transfer (P = 0.33).

Conclusions

It appears that there is no association between the ‘October 7’ events and IVF outcomes.