Infertility is a common reproductive disease, with a prevalence of 9% to 18% of the general population. To date, no studies have attempted to examine the prevalence and experience of infertility among resident physicians in the United States. In female obstetrics and gynecology (Ob/Gyn) residents of age where infertility becomes more prevalent, ability to seek fertility may be influenced by rigorous professional demands and low remuneration. We seek to understand the prevalence of infertility, as well as experience and utilization of infertility services among Ob/Gyn residents. Cross-sectional descriptive survey was distributed among US Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited Ob/Gyn programs. Demographics, intentions to conceive during residency, fertility problems, fertility treatment, affordability of care, and perceptions of support were surveyed. A total of 241 responses were received in an equal distribution between junior (n = 120) and senior (n = 121) residents. The majority of respondents were female (91%), 25 to 35 years old (94%), and married (54%). Eighty-five percent (195 of 230) did not actively pursue fertility during residency. Twenty-nine percent (68 of 235) considered fertility preservation, but only 2% sought consultation. Twenty-nine percent of those interested in fertility (22 of 75) experienced infertility of some degree. Sixty-three percent felt low or no support from the program. Thirty-five percent reported stigma associated with their infertility. In conclusion, infertility is a prevalent reproductive health impairment among Ob/Gyn residents. The majority of residents defer childbearing during residency despite advancing reproductive age. A majority felt little or no support from training programs in addressing their fertility care. Further studies are indicated to understand the barriers and impact among resident trainees.

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BackgroundInfertility is a prevalent disease of reproductive health that exerts an impact on an estimated 80 million people worldwide. For many, involuntary childlessness becomes a central and preoccupying issue in their lives, the impact of which is exacerbated by lack of access to basic care and treatment. These effects maybe further magnified among immigrant communities, a growing but highly marginalized population that has been shown in other areas of reproductive health to experience worse health outcomes and delays in access to care. To date, few studies have examined the unique medical and sociocultural considerations of infertility among immigrant populations in the United States.MethodsOur study is a cross-sectional analysis of women presenting for infertility evaluation at a county hospital serving a low resource, socioculturally diverse largely immigrant communities in comparison to infertile women from a largely affluent population presenting to a high resource, comprehensive fertility center. We employed surveys to evaluate demographics and socioeconomic parameters as well as abstracted data from medical records to obtain infertility diagnoses. Multivariate regression analysis was applied to examine impact of sociocultural factors as predictors of duration of untreated infertility disease burden experienced by patients.ResultsEighty-seven women were included in our analysis. In the county hospital/low resource clinic (LR), the mean age was 32.9 ± 4.9 vs 36.4 ± 6.3 years in the fee-for-service/high resource clinic (HR). The mean reported duration of infertility in LR and HR patients was 3.4 ± 3.0 vs 2.3 ± 1.5 years. 70% of LR patients were monolingual non-English speakers vs 5.4% of HR patients. 59% of LR patients reported an annual household income of less than $25,000 and 70% did not have a college degree. 81.1% of HR patients reported an income of higher than $100,000, and 81.1% had completed college or graduate school. The most common infertility diagnosis in the LR was anovulation (38%) and tubal factor (28%) compared to diminished ovarian reserve (37.8%) and male factor (51.4%) in the HR. After controlling for age at the initiation of pregnancy attempt, lower education level, lower income, and immigrant status were significantly correlated with a longer duration of infertility.ConclusionsWomen presenting for infertility care to a low resource county medical center represent immigrant communities and are generally of younger age, but with a longer duration of infertility. This study identifies lower educational level, income, and immigrant status as barriers in access to care.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40834-017-0044-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Objective To develop a protocol for cryopreservation and recovery of human endometrial epithelial cells (eEC) retaining molecular and functional characteristics of endometrial epithelium in vivo. Design This is an in vitro study using human endometrial cells. Setting University research laboratory. Patients Endometrial biopsies were obtained from premenopausal women undergoing benign gynecological procedures. Interventions Primary eEC were cryopreserved in 1% fetal bovine serum (FBS)/10% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) in Defined Keratinocyte Serum Free Medium (KSFM). Recovered cells were observed for endometrial stromal fibroblast (eSF) contamination and subsequently evaluated for morphology, gene expression, and functional characteristics of freshly cultured eECs and in vivo endometrial epithelium. Main Outcome Measures Analysis of eEC morphology and the absence of eSF contamination; evaluation of epithelial-specific gene and protein expression; assessment of epithelial polarity. Results eEC recovered after cryopreservation (n=5) displayed epithelial morphology and expressed E-cadherin (CDH1), occludin (OCLN), claudin1 (CLDN1), and keratin18 (KRT18). Compared to eSF, recovered eEC displayed increased (P<0.05) expression of epithelial-specific genes AREG, CDH1, DEFB4A, MMP7, and WNT7A, while exhibiting low-to-undetectable (P<0.05) stromal-specific genes COL6A3, HOXA11, MMP2, PDGFRB, and WNT5A. Recovered eEC secrete levels of cytokines and growth factors comparable to freshly cultured eEC. Recovered eEC can formed a polarized monolayer with high transepithelial electrical resistance (TER) and impermeability to small molecules, and expressed apical/basolateral localization of CDH1 and apical localization of OCLN. Conclusion We have developed a protocol for cryopreservation of eEC in which recovered cells after thawing demonstrate morphological, transcriptomic, and functional characteristics of human endometrial epithelium in vivo.