O-215 Negative impact of the reduction in family income following the SARS CoV 2 Covid 19 pandemic on access to Assisted Procreation : observational study

Abstract

Abstract Study question What are the consequences of the health emergency and the consequent restrictive measures on the economic accessibility of medically assisted procreation techniques. Summary answer Reduction of family income rate and consequentely bias of PMA attempts rate What is known already - The birth rate in Italy over the past 10 years has been declining rapidly and continuously - Fertility income correlation has an inversely proportional trend demonstrated in a study conducted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and Istat - Pandemic has further impoverished Italian families Study design, size, duration This is a transversal observational study conducted at the Assisted PReproduction Center of the San Filippo Neri hospital in Rome between Jenuary 2021 and December 2022 The results were obtained by administering an online questionnaire consisting of 20 multiple choice questions to which the participants answered anonymously. Participants/materials, setting, methods Two hundred and ninety-five patients were enrolled with an overall average age of 37.5 years (minimum age 25, maximum age 47). Main outcomes measures. Bias of PMA attempts rate. Reduction of family income rate Main results and the role of chance Majority of people said they have not seen their desire for offspring reduced since the onset of health emergency. the willingness to use MAP techniques during the pandemic remained unchanged for 58.7% of respondents, increased for 12.5% and decreased for the remaining 28.8%. The individuals who have declared to have momentarily renounced to the procedures of PMA have been 31.7%, of these 24% has renounced because of economic factors. When asked about the cost of the necessary medical procedures, 62.5% of the participants considered the price in public facilities to be “adequate” and 79.8% defined the cost in private clinics as “excessive”. Limitations, reasons for caution A limitation of the study may be the comprehension of the questionnaire, since it could not be speieged verbally. The administration was done online, so there is no assurance that it was received by everyone. Therefore, the percentage of patients who did not respond may be overestimated Wider implications of the findings The study and analysis of these data provides a current overview of the condition of infertile couples in our country, so that all useful interventions can be put in place to restore the interest and economic conditions necessary for the initiation of medically assisted procreation. Trial registration number not applicable