How much do Spanish women know about infertility?
- It is estimated that up to a third of assisted reproduction cycles in patients with low ovarian reserve would be avoidable if the patients had had information about infertility
Infertility it affects today, according to World Health Organization, 1 in 6 couples of reproductive age in Spain. In general, It is an unknown problem for patients until the moment in which, after looking for a pregnancy naturally and not getting it, they consider resorting to an assisted reproduction center.
June is the month of Fertility and we want to focus on the lack of information that we have throughout our lives about fertility and infertility. IVI has carried out a study to find out how much we know about these aspects and especially how the lack of information affects the treatments since some of them could be avoided or would have a better result, if, for example, it had been preserved or a center had been visited of assisted reproduction earlier.
It is at that moment when they are faced with a sea of doubts about treatments and concepts that they have never heard before.
“This highly prevalent pathology is haunted by a social stigma that can only be broken with the normalization of this condition. And, as for almost everything, education is a key tool to achieve this, “he says. Rafael M. Trinchant, study author “A descriptive and analytical analysis on the perception of fertility and infertility in the Spanish female population” and embryologist at the IVI Mallorca clinic.
The study, which has conducted the largest survey to date on “Fertility Awareness”, with a target population of 1,569 Spanish women, concludes that infertility is closely followed by a deep social stigma that is accompanied by a lack of knowledge regarding technicalities in the world of reproduction and sexual health regardless of the educational level of the women surveyed ; that can affect their own reproductive health decision-making.
The Importance of Breeding Information
According to Trinchant, “Currently, reproductive education is more focused on ‘how not to have a child’ than on ‘how to have a child´, when both aspects should be important in equivalence. Ordinary society lacks technical knowledge regarding actual fertility expectations, especially that related to fertility. ovarian aging. In fact, It is estimated that up to a third of assisted reproduction cycles due to low ovarian reserve would be avoidable if the patients had had enough information at the time suitable for evaluating their reproductive decisions in a balanced way ”.
The study was proposed as a way of evaluating current social trends and the knowledge of the Spanish female population regarding this matter, whose results suggest unreal social optimism within the fertility framework. In fact, the vast majority of study participants demonstrated that they were unable to determine precisely at what age it became difficult for a woman to achieve pregnancy, either naturally or through the use of assisted reproductive techniques. Therefore, one of the needs obtained from the conclusions is to educate at an early age about fertility and infertility, when there is still time to act and plan motherhood as desired.
In addition, the wide acceptance of oocyte vitrification as a method of social preservation of fertility is relevant, according to the results obtained. “This technique could help to tackle the current demographic crisis as well as serve as a tool for the emancipation of a woman who wishes to postpone her motherhood, assuming a certain psychological relief. Choosing to be a mother or not is part of Reproductive Rights: the question and the ideal is always to be able to choose ”, says Trinchant.
