Abstract
To evaluate the impact of infertility and Medically Assisted Reproduction (MAR) throughout all aspects of life among infertile women and men. An online survey included 1 045 French patients (355 men, 690 women) who were living or had lived the experience of infertility and MAR. The questionnaire included 56 questions on several domains: global feelings, treatment burden, rapport with medical staff, psychosocial impact, sexual life and professional consequences. Respondents had experienced an average of 3.6 (95% CI: 3.3-3.9) MAR cycles: 5% (n = 46) were pregnant, 4% (n = 47) were waiting to start MAR, 50% (n = 522) succeeded in having a live birth following MAR, 19% (n = 199) were currently undergoing ART, and 21% (n = 221) dropped out of the MAR process without a live birth. Satisfaction rates regarding the received medical care were above 80%, but 42% of patients pointed out the lack of information about non-medical support. An important impact on sexual life was reported, with 21% of patients admitted having not had intercourse for several weeks or even several months. Concerning the impact on professional life, 63% of active workers currently in an MAR program (n = 185) considered that MAR had strong repercussions on the organization of their working life with 49% of them reporting a negative impact on the quality of their work, and 46% of them reporting the necessity to lie about missing work during their treatment. Despite a high overall level of satisfaction regarding medical care, the burden of infertility and MAR on quality of life is strong, especially on sexuality and professional organization. Clinical staff should be encouraged to develop non-medical support for all patients at any stage of infertility treatment. Enterprises should be warned about the professional impact of infertility and MAR to help their employees reconcile personal and professional life.
Highlights
Infertility is defined as the failure to achieve pregnancy after at least 12 months of regular unprotected sexual intercourse [1]
Respondents had experienced an average of 3.6 Medically Assisted Reproduction (MAR) cycles: 5% (n = 46) were pregnant, 4% (n = 47) were waiting to start MAR, 50% (n = 522) succeeded in having a live birth following MAR, 19% (n = 199) were currently undergoing assisted reproduction technologies (ART), and 21% (n = 221) dropped out of the MAR process without a live birth
Concerning the impact on professional life, 63% of active workers currently in an MAR program (n = 185) considered that MAR had strong repercussions on the organization of their working life with 49% of them reporting a negative impact on the quality of their work, and 46% of them reporting the necessity to lie about missing work during their treatment
Summary
Infertility is defined as the failure to achieve pregnancy after at least 12 months of regular unprotected sexual intercourse [1]. The last ESHRE and International Committee for Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technology (ICMART) reports showed a continuing increase in the use of ART worldwide [10,11]. According to the ICMART data that reported about two-thirds of the worldwide ART activity, 1 643 912 ART cycles led to the birth of more than 394 662 babies in 2011 (data excluding Republic of China). In 2015, in ESHRE guideline, Gameiro et al reported international recommendations for providing routine psychosocial care in infertility and medically assisted reproduction [13]. In real life, physicians specialized in reproductive medicine often haven’t sufficient available tools for offering personalized and adapted psychosocial care to patients involved in an ART process
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