Celiac disease is not more prevalent in patients undergoing in vitro fertilization and does not affect reproductive outcomes with or without treatment: a large prospective cohort study.

Objective: To study the prevalence of celiac disease in the infertile population undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) and assess outcomes.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: A single infertility center from January 2016 to March 2017.

Patient(s): Women 18-45 years of age participating in IVF.

Intervention(s): Patients had serum tissue transglutaminase (tTG) and endomysial (EMA) IgA testing to screen for celiac disease and completed a 10-question "yes or no" survey to assess their medical history, previous testing, dietary habits, and pertinent symptoms.

Main Outcome Measure(s): IVF cycle outcomes were compared between seronegative and seropositive patients.

Result(s): Of 1,000 patients enrolled, 995 completed serologic screening and 968 underwent oocyte retrieval. Eighteen patients screened positive for both tTG and EMA (1.8%) and 10 additional patients (1.0%) screened positive for one of the two antibodies. The number of mature oocytes retrieved, fertilization rates, and blastulation rates were equivalent between seronegative and seropositive patients. There were 987 patients who completed the questionnaire (98.7%), and 84 reported being gluten free (8.5%). Those who reported being gluten free were no more likely to be antibody positive than the general population. Furthermore, a low-gluten diet was not associated with markers of ovarian reserve, oocytes retrieved, fertilization, blastulation, sustained implantation and pregnancy loss rates.

Conclusion(s): The prevalence of seropositive celiac disease was consistent with that of the general population (2.8%). Patients who were seropositive for celiac disease-related antibodies had outcomes equivalent to seronegative patients, and patients with a gluten-free diet did not have improved outcomes.