Egg freezing for fertility preservation and family planning: a nationwide survey of US Obstetrics and Gynecology residents

Abstract

BackgroundLittle is known about resident attitudes toward elective egg freezing (EF) or how educational exposure to EF affects residents’ views and ability to counsel patients. This study aimed to evaluate US OB/GYN residents’ views on elective EF, decisions regarding family planning, and whether education on EF affects these views and self-reported comfort discussing EF with patients.MethodsA 32 question survey was emailed to program directors at all US residency programs for distribution to residents. Chi-square tests were used to evaluate the relationship between educational factors and views on EF and comfort counselling patients.ResultsOf those surveyed, 106 residents and 7 fellows completed the survey (103 female). Almost three quarters of female respondents reported postponing pregnancy due to residency (71.8%). Non-exclusive reasons for this choice included career plans (54.4%) and concern for childcare (51.5%) and for fellow residents and their program (50.5%). Of the male and female residents who reported educational exposure to EF (57.5%), almost all of them (95.4%) received this in an REI rotation. Only half of female residents reported being comfortable counseling a patient on EF (49.5%). For female residents, education on EF (p = 0.03) and more advanced level of residency (p = 0.02) were significantly associated with comfort counseling a patient on EF.ConclusionsFemale OB/GYN residents are choosing to delay pregnancy during residency for career and social support reasons. Few residents feel comfortable counseling patients on EF, but appropriate curricular content on EF during residency could improve residents’ comfort in assisting patients with reproductive planning.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12958-019-0459-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A Cross-Sectional Survey Of Fertility Knowledge In Obstetrics And Gynecology Residents

“…Our response rate calculation is imprecise as the exact number of residents who actually received the recruitment email from their residency directors is unknown. If all residents did have access to the survey, the response rate would be approximately 4%, a magnitude consistent with other published survey research of obstetrics and gynecology residents through email recruitment -at 2.2% and 5% respectively (17,18). It is impossible to ensure that the survey was received by all of the intended recipients.…”

Infertility, Fertility Preservation, and Access to Care During Training: A Nationwide Multispecialty Survey of United States Residents and Fellows

“…Our earlier study of 241 Obstetrics & Gynecology residents reported an infertility rate of 8%, utilization of fertility preservation services of 2%, and that the majority of residents facing fertility issues felt little or no support from their programs [9]. Another survey of 113 Obstetrics & Gynecology residents and fellows reported that 71.8% postponed childbearing due to medical training, and that only half of female residents felt comfortable educating patients about oocyte cryopreservation [10]. A separate study of 238…”

“…Therefore, we believe the common themes emerging from our study still have merit in raising awareness around the prevalence of infertility/RPL among medical trainees as well as the need for additional resources for this population, and are important to inform GME policy in the future. Additionally, our survey size is still larger than other prior studies of similar subject in medical trainees, and the largest study on this subject [9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. However, further study is needed in larger samples to validate and generalize these findings across medical trainees.…”

“…Prior survey studies focused on Obstetrics & Gynecology residents have reported infertility rates comparable to the general population, low utilization of fertility preservation services, limited support from training programs for fertility preservation issues, and a high rate of postponement of childbearing due to medical training [9,10,11]. Several other survey-based studies in other medical fields (primarily surgical specialties) have reported qualitatively similar findings, including high rates of postponement of childbearing, concerns about maternal or fetal health as a result of training, and related career dissatisfaction [12,13,14,15,16].…”

Perceptions, outcomes, and regret following social egg freezing in the UK; a cross‐sectional survey

“…Single status is consistently identified to be a major motivating factor in a number of studies assessing perceptions across varying populations. [13][14][15][16][17][18] Although of interest,…”