Our results should give hope to couples who have been unsuccessfully treated by IVF, especially young couples with unexplained infertility. Nonetheless, it should be remembered that the BSP rates are cumulative rates observed over a long period of time and that these couples have a very low monthly probability of conceiving.

BackgroundA good response rate has been considered as a proof of a study’s quality. Decreasing participation and its potential impact on the internal validity of the study are of growing interest. Our objective was to assess factors associated with contact and response to a postal survey in a epidemiological study of the long-term outcome of IVF couples.MethodsThe DAIFI study is a retrospective cohort including 6,507 couples who began an IVF program in 2000-2002 in one of the eight participating French IVF centers. Medical data on all 6,507 couples were obtained from IVF center databases, and information on long-term outcome was available only for participants in the postal survey (n = 2,321). Logistic regressions were used to assess firstly factors associated with contact and secondly factors associated with response to the postal questionnaire among contacted couples.ResultsSixty-two percent of the 6,507 couples were contacted and 58% of these responded to the postal questionnaire. Contacted couples were more likely to have had a child during IVF treatment than non-contactable couples, and the same was true of respondents compared with non-respondents. Demographic and medical characteristics were both associated with probability of contact and probability of response. After adjustment, having a live birth during IVF treatment remained associated with both probabilities, and more strongly with probability of response. Having a child during IVF treatment was a major factor impacting on participation rate.ConclusionsNon-response as well as non-contact were linked to the outcome of interest, i.e. long-term parenthood success of infertile couples. Our study illustrates that an a priori hypothesis may be too simplistic and may underestimate potential bias. In the context of growing use of analytical methods that take attrition into account (such as multiple imputation), we need to better understand the mechanisms that underlie attrition in order to choose the most appropriate method.

Depuis sa création en 1999, le pacte civil de solidarité (pacs), adopté pour permettre la reconnaissance légale des couples de même sexe et ouvert également aux couples de sexe différent a connu un essor considérable. Tandis qu’on comptait environ 20 000 nouveaux pacs par an à ses débuts, plus de 205 000 pacs ont été enregistrés en 2010. La plupart par des couples de sexe différent. Les personnes qui se sont pacsées sont-elles différentes de celles qui se sont mariées depuis l’existence du pacs ? Sans être opposés, les deux groupes présentent des caractéristiques distinctes : les pacsés sont plus souvent sans enfant, plus diplômés de l’enseignement supérieur, cadres et professions intermédiaires et exercent plus souvent une activité dans le secteur public. Ces spécificités se sont toutefois amoindries ces dernières années : les personnes pacsées récemment (notamment depuis 2008) se distinguent moins des mariés que « les pionniers » du pacs. On observe ainsi une démocratisation du pacs au sens où il a connu à la fois une croissance considérable et une diffusion dans des milieux sociaux qui s’en étaient peu emparés à ces débuts.

respectively 83.0% and 96.2%, corresponding with a positive predictive value of 87.0% and a negative predictive value of 95.0%. Subgroup analyses showed higher predictive values for second VAP episodes, and when P aeruginosa was involved. Conclusions In this cohort routine SC appear to have excellent operating characteristics to predict MDR involvement in VAP. REFERENCE1.