A new way to estimate the potential unmet need for infertility services among women in the United States

Arthur L. Greil, Kathleen S. Slauson-Blevins, Stacy Tiemeyer, Julia Mcquillan, Karina M. Shreffler

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Fewer than 50% of women who meet the medical/behavioral criteria for infertility receive medical services. Estimating the number of women who both meet the medical/behavioral criteria for infertility and who have pro-conception attitudes will allow for better estimates of the potential need and unmet need for infertility services in the United States. Methods: The National Survey of Fertility Barriers was administered by telephone to a probability sample of 4,712 women in the United States. The sample for this analysis was 292 women who reported an experience of infertility within 3 years of the time of the interview. Infertile women were asked if they were trying to conceive at the time of their infertility experience and if they wanted to have a child to determine who could be considered in need of services. Results: Among U.S. women who have met medical criteria for infertility within the past three years, 15.9% report that they were neither trying to have a child nor wanted to have a child and can be classified as not in need of treatment. Of the 84.9% of infertile women in need of treatment, 58.1% did not even talk to a doctor about ways to become pregnant. Discussion: Even after taking into account that not all infertile women are in need of treatment, there is still a large unmet need for infertility treatment in the United States. Conclusion: Studies of the incidence of infertility should include measures of both trying to have a child and wanting to have a child.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)133-138
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Women's Health
Volume25
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Feb 2016
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A new way to estimate the potential unmet need for infertility services among women in the United States'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this