Research presented by Taipei American School student Jeffrey Zi Kang Huang at ESHRE 2026 through an international collaboration among Taiwan IVF Group, Ton Yen General Hospital, and Stanford University.
LONDON, July 29. 2026 /PRNewswire/ — An international study examining the relationship between ambient air pollution and assisted reproductive technology (ART) outcomes has found that higher exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is consistently associated with lower clinical pregnancy and live-birth rates across Europe, North America, and East Asia.
The research, conducted by Taiwan IVF Group and Ton Yen General Hospital in collaboration with Professor Barry Behr of Stanford University, was presented at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE 2026) in London.
The research was presented by Jeffrey Zi Kang Huang, a research intern from Taipei American School (TAS), whose work was selected for presentation at one of the world’s premier scientific meetings in reproductive medicine. Jeffrey joined leading clinicians and scientists from around the world to share research exploring the impact of environmental air pollution on fertility treatment outcomes.
The study, “Ambient Air Pollution (PM2.5) and ART Outcomes in Europe: A Cross-Continental Comparison with North America and East Asia,” integrated publicly available ART registry data from 2010–2022 with environmental datasets from the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Environment Agency (EEA), and NASA to evaluate the association between PM2.5 exposure and ART outcomes.
The analysis found that regions with higher PM2.5 exposure consistently demonstrated lower ART success rates. Compared with regions experiencing lower pollution levels, clinical pregnancy rates were reduced by approximately 5–12%, while live-birth rates declined by approximately 4–10%, with similar trends observed across all three geographic regions.
Artificial intelligence-assisted analytical methods were used to integrate multiple international datasets and identify cross-regional patterns, highlighting the growing role of AI in biomedical and environmental health research.
“Participating in this research allowed me to see how artificial intelligence and large-scale data analysis can uncover meaningful patterns in reproductive medicine and environmental health. Presenting our research at ESHRE has been an inspiring experience and strengthened my aspiration to pursue a career in medicine and biomedical research,” Jeffrey said.
Barry Behr, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University and an internationally recognized expert in reproductive biology and embryology, emphasized the importance of providing talented young students with opportunities to participate in international collaborative research. He noted that early exposure to scientific inquiry and multidisciplinary collaboration helps cultivate the next generation of physician-scientists and biomedical innovators.
The findings contribute to growing evidence that environmental air quality may be an important and potentially modifiable factor influencing reproductive health and fertility treatment outcomes, while demonstrating the value of international collaboration in advancing reproductive medicine.
