BackgroundOnly a few studies have reported cross-cultural comparisons regarding psychosocial consequences of infertility. Differences between societies with different cultural backgrounds were revealed and seemed to be based on the importance of pronatalism. Our aim was to measure cross-cultural differences in fertility specific quality of life of infertile couples in Germany, Hungary and Jordan who attend a fertility center in a cross-sectional study.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in one fertility clinic in Germany, in five fertility clinics in Hungary and in one fertility clinic in Jordan. Overall 750 couples (252 couples in Jordan, 246 couples in Germany and 252 couples in Hungary) attending the first medical infertility consultation were asked to fill out our questionnaire set. Fertility specific quality of life (FertiQoL) and sociodemographic differences were measured between couples from three countries.ResultsJordanian couples had the shortest relationship (5.8 ± 4.3 yrs.), though they reported the longest duration of child wish (4.2 ± 3.6 yrs.) and fertility treatments (3.0 ± 3.3 yrs.). The proportion of high education was considerably higher in Jordanian women and men (60 % and 66 %, respectively) compared to the other two samples. First, marked cross-country differences were obtained on Emotional, Mind/Body and Relational subscales of the FertiQoL, indicating that Jordanian couples reported poorer fertility-related quality of life than Germans and Hungarians (p < 0.001). After controlling for the sociodemographic and medical variables, a significant difference only in the Emotional domain was observed (p < 0.001).ConclusionsThe study revealed only a few cultural based differences in fertility specific quality of life between the couples of the three countries. Thus, infertility counselors should pay attention to psychosocial problems rooted in individual sociocultural aspects of the infertile couple regardless of cultural stereotypes. Further studies should identify sociocultural factors within different subgroups of infertile patients instead of focusing different societies as a whole because intra-cultural psychosocial differences in experiencing infertility seem to be more important for the individual patient than intercultural differences.

The Covid-19 pandemic is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 virus, SARS-CoV-2. The outbreak was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, it was declared a public health emergency of international concern on 30 January 2020, and recognised by the WHO as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. 1 In Jordan, the Governorate of Irbid witnessed the first outbreak of the Covid-19 in the country. Only one case was reported in Jordan in early March 2020, but by 10 April 2020, the number of confirmed cases had increased rapidly. The country initiated a complete lockdown of the city of Irbid, where the outbreak started on 14 March, and was isolated from the rest of the country. 2 Jordan hosts around 658 000 registered Syrian refugees. The real total number is estimated at around 1.3 million when those not registered are taken into account. The majority, estimated 81%, live in camps, 3 with 20.6% living in the Governorate of Irbid. 4 The World Health Organization (2020) reports that 80% of infections are mild or asymptomatic, 15% are severe, requiring oxygen and 5% are critical infections, requiring ventilation. 5 The American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that individuals with breathing difficulty, persistent chest pain or pressure, sudden confusion, difficulty awakening, or bluish face or lips should seek immediate medical attention and support. 6 Exclusive breastfeeding for six months has many benefits for the infant and mother which far outweigh any risk from the new

To investigate the effect of COVID-19 infection or vaccine on IVF outcome. This is a multicenter retrospective study. Data were collected from all patients treated in the ART units between September and November 2021 after the vaccination of the general population began. Medical records of all patients who had IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were categorized into four groups: previously infected by COVID-19, vaccinated by COVID vaccine, previously infected and vaccinated, or neither infected nor vaccinated. Total number of participants 151 (vaccinated only 66, infected only 18, vaccinated and previously infected 34, and control 33. Outcomes (ET on day of trigger, number of oocytes retrieved, quality of oocytes, number of fertilized oocytes, number and quality of embryos, number of embryos transferred, number of embryos frozen, implantation rate and clinical pregnancy rate) were compared between these four groups. Moreover, we compared the outcome before and post infection, as well as before and post vaccine in a group of patients. No evidence was found to suggest that COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine adversely affects Clinical pregnancy rates (positive fetal heartbeat) (OR 0.9, CI 0.5–1.9, OR 1.8, CI 0.9–3.6, respectively) and the following parameters: fertilization rate, implantation rate, positive bHcg) (OR 0.9, CI 0.5–1.8, OR 1.5, CI 0.7–2.9, respectively). Although a limitation of our study is the small comparison groups, and the wide confidence intervals in the Odds Ratio estimates.

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