Human Reproduction, Vol. 15, No. 2, 330-334,
February 2000
© 2000 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
Public perception on infertility and its treatment: an international survey
Chemin de Bellevue, Case Postale 13, CH-1270 Trélex, Switzerland
The first large survey on the public perception of infertility and its treatment was conducted in six European countries, the USA and Australia. A representative sample of 8194 adults was polled, using standard validated methodology. The results obtained highlighted the following major aspects: (i) infertility is perceived as a disease by less than half of the people surveyed (38%), in contrast to the accepted medical opinion; (ii) awareness about the definition and incidence of infertility is relatively low, despite the fact that half of the people polled claimed to know someone affected by infertility; (iii) close to 90% of the adults surveyed knew about in-vitro fertilization (IVF), but less than one-quarter of them knew about the chances of success of this assisted reproductive technology; and (iv) when confronted with the knowledge that the cost of three IVF cycles is roughly equivalent to the cost of a hip replacement (a commonly reimbursed procedure), a large majority (70%) of the individuals interviewed agreed that IVF should be reimbursable.
Key words: assisted reproduction/infertility survey/public awareness/public perception/treatment reimbursement
* E.Y.Adashi, J.Cohen, L.Hamberger1, H.W.Jones, Jr, D.M.de Kretser, B.Lunenfeld, Z.Rosenwaks and A.Van Steirteghem
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: University of Göteborg Sahlgrenska Hospital Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 413-45 Göteborg, Sweden
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