(308) Vasectomy Regret: Is Having Children Protective?

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Vasectomy is reliable form of male contraception with prior data suggesting low levels of regret in child-bearing men. We recently published similarly low regret in childless men. There is a paucity of data comparing these two cohorts head-to-head. Objective Compare incidence of post-vasectomy regret in men with children and childless men. Methods The records of all patients who underwent vasectomy via a single surgeon between 2006 – 2021 were retrospectively reviewed. We created two cohorts: one of childless and one of child-bearing men. Childless cohort was the limiting factor; thus we randomly chose an equal number from our child-bearing cohort. We analyzed demographics of age at time of vasectomy, marital status, number of children and time since vasectomy. Patients’ regret was queried, both immediately after vasectomy and present day. We devised a 6-question survey inquiring about regret and thoughts on vasectomy reversal and assisted reproductive technology (ART). The questions are listed in Table 1. Results There were 4,812 overall patients who underwent vasectomy in this time interval, with 205 (4.3%) who were childless. The response rate for child-bearing men was 41.9% (86/205) and 33.2% (68/205) for childless men. Average age for child-bearing men was 35.3 years and 36.6 years in childless men, with time since vasectomy at time of phone call was 6.2 and 5.5 years, for child-bearing and childless men, respectively. The majority of patients 150/205 (73.1%) were married in both childless, 150/205 (73.1%) and child-bearing, 192/205 (93.6%). Average number of children was 2. When comparing our cohorts, regret rates (answering 4 or 5) immediately were 1.2% in child-bearing vs. 4.4% in childless men (p<0.0001), compared to 3.5% vs. 7.4% in present day regret (p<0.0001). Conclusions Regret in childless men is more prevalent than child-bearing men, suggesting raising children is protective. Disclosure No.