THE RELATIONSHIP OF ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY WITH COVID-19 INFECTION IN WOMEN

Backgrounds: To investigate the association between assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatments and the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: The data of the 17 infertility patients who were treated with ART between 01 and 11 March 2020 at a Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Unit of a tertiary center were collected retrospectively. The patients were then asked if they were positive for the COVID-19 or had symptoms of the illness. Results: Ovarian stimulation, oocyte pick-up, and intracytoplasmic sperm injection were used for all of the patients. Nine (52.9%) patients’ embryos were transferred and pregnancy was detected in 4 of the 9 patients after the assisted reproductive treatments. At the time of the interview, none of the infertile women had any symptoms of the COVID-19 or a confirmed diagnosis from a positive test result for the COVID-19 nucleic acids by real-time fluorescence reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Conclusion: When turning to normal practice life, all patients should be evaluated for COVID-19 during pre, per and post-treatment time in order to stop the ART and protect against the cases from the possible side effects of assisted reproductive treatments, especially the possible, but undefined, predisposition factor to COVID-19.