Skip to main content
SMFM 2026 Pregnancy Meeting Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Presentation Icons
Additional registration fee required
Additional registration fee required
Faculty have requested this content not be shared outside of the session
Faculty have requested this content not be shared outside of the session
CME Credit Offered
CME Credit Offered
Abstract Award
Abstract Award
Recording available 2/16-5/2
Recording available 2/16-5/2
AIUM Credit
AIUM Credit
Foundation Awardee
Foundation Awardee
Poster Icons
Abstract Award
Abstract Award
Foundation Awardee
Foundation Awardee

Poster Session 3

Category: Epidemiology

Poster Session 3

(976) Association Between Fertility Treatments and Offspring Risk of Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Population-Based Cohort Study

Thursday, February 12, 2026
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM  

    Submitting Author and Presenting Author(s)

  • Tal Czeiger, N/A

    Soroka Medical Center
    Lehavim, HaDarom, Israel

    • Coauthor(s)

  • Gil Gutvirtz, MD, MHA

    Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Soroka University Medical Center, Ben-Gurion University
    Metar, HaDarom, Israel

  • Gali Pariente, MD

    Acting director of Fetal Maternal Unit B Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology
    Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Soroka University Medical Center, Ben-Gurion University
    beer sheva, HaDarom, Israel

  • Tamar Wainstock, PhD (she/her/hers)

    Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
    Beer Sheva, HaDarom, Israel

  • Eyal Sheiner, MD, PhD

    Deichmann Lerner Full Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology; Chairman of the Division of OBY&GYN
    Soroka University Medical Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben‑Gurion University of the Negev
    beer sheva, HaDarom, Israel

Objective:

Fertility treatments are known to modulate maternal hormonal and immunological profiles, which may influence fetal development and long-term health outcomes. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic condition with a well-established immunological etiology. We sought to explore a potential impact of fertility treatments on offspring immune-mediated conditions and specifically investigated whether offspring of women who conceived using fertility treatments are at an increased risk to develop IBD.

Study Design:

A population-based retrospective study was conducted using data from singleton deliveries at a tertiary medical center between 1991 and 2021. The risk of the offspring to develop IBD was compared between children (up to the age of 18 years) born using fertility treatments and children born after spontaneously conceived pregnancies. Offspring were followed up to 18 years of age for the diagnosis of IBD, based on community clinics and/or hospitalization records. The cumulative incidence of IBD was compared between groups using Kaplan–Meier survival analysis, and a Cox proportional hazards model was applied to adjust for potential confounders.

Results:

A total of 356,356 singleton deliveries were included in the study, of which 7,711 (2.2%) deliveries were of pregnancies conceived using fertility treatments. Children born following fertility treatments had a comparable rate of IBD as children born following a spontaneous pregnancy (Table). The Kaplan-Meier survival curve illustrated comparable cumulative incidence of IBD over time in both groups (Figure). The Cox proportional hazards model, controlling for maternal age and gestational age, reassured that fertility treatments were not a risk factor for the development of IBD in the offspring (Table).

Conclusion:

In our cohort, children born following fertility treatments are not at an increased risk to develop IBD as compared to children born following spontaneous pregnancies.