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Fertility awareness and attitudes among resident physicians across different specialties

  • Assisted Reproduction Technologies
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Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate knowledge of age-related fertility decline and oocyte cryopreservation among resident physicians in obstetrics and gynecology (ob-gyn) compared to residents in other specialties.

Methods

An online survey was sent to the US residency program directors for ob-gyn, internal medicine, emergency medicine, family medicine, general surgery, pediatrics, and psychiatry. They were asked to forward the survey to their respective residents. The survey consisted of three sections: fertility knowledge, oocyte cryopreservation knowledge, and attitudes toward family building and fertility preservation. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to compare outcomes between ob-gyn and non-ob-gyn residents.

Results

Of the 2,828 completed surveys, 450 (15.9%) were by ob-gyn residents and 2,378 (84.1%) were by residents in other specialties. 66.3% of respondents were female. The median number of correct answers was 2 out of 5 on the fertility knowledge section and 1 out of 3 on the oocyte cryopreservation knowledge section among both ob-gyn and non-ob-gyn residents. After adjusting for covariates, residents in ob-gyn were no more likely to answer these questions correctly than residents in other specialties (fertility knowledge, adjusted OR .97, 95% CI .88–1.08; oocyte cryopreservation knowledge, adjusted OR 1.05, 95% CI .92–1.19). Ob-gyn residents were significantly more likely than non-ob-gyn residents to feel “somewhat supported” or “very supported” by their program to pursue family building goals (83.5% vs. 75.8%, OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.23–2.14).

Conclusions

Resident physicians, regardless of specialty, have limited knowledge of natural fertility decline and the opportunity to cryopreserve oocytes. These data suggest need for improved fertility education.

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Availability of data and material

The datasets generated during the study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

The Duke Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design Methods Core’s support of this project was made possible in part by CTSA Grant (UL1TR002553) from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NCATS or NIH.

Funding

The study was funded by the Charles B. Hammond Research Fund, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Duke University Medical Center, 5601 Arringdon Park Drive, Suite 210, Durham, NC, 27560, USA

    Shelun Tsai

  2. Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Duke University Medical Center, 2424 Erwin Road, Suite 1102 Hock Plaza, Box 2721, Durham, NC, 27710, USA

    Tracy Truong

  3. Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Women & Infants Hospital, Providence, RI, USA

    Jennifer L. Eaton

Authors
  1. Shelun Tsai
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  2. Tracy Truong
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  3. Jennifer L. Eaton
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection were performed by Shelun Tsai and Jennifer Eaton. The statistical analysis was performed by Tracy Truong. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Shelun Tsai, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shelun Tsai.

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Ethics approval

This study was granted exempt status by the Institutional Review Board of Duke University because no identifiable private information was collected.

Informed consent

Eligible participants reviewed and agreed to a standard consent form at the start of the survey.

Consent to participate

Eligible participants reviewed and agreed to a standard consent form at the start of the survey. No identifiable private information was collected.

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Not applicable.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Tsai, S., Truong, T. & Eaton, J.L. Fertility awareness and attitudes among resident physicians across different specialties. J Assist Reprod Genet 39, 655–661 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-022-02425-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-022-02425-z

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