Public perception on infertility and its treatment: an international survey. The Bertarelli Foundation Scientific Board.
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.
Adashi
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Chemin de Bellevue, Case Postale 13, CH-1270 Trélex, Switzerland.
Cohen
J
J
Hamberger
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Jones
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de Kretser
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Lunenfeld
B
B
Rosenwaks
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Z
Van Steirteghem
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A
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001315:Australia; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans; D007246:Infertility / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D038622:Internationality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011639:Public Opinion; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States