title: Men who seek infertility care may not represent the general U.S. population: data from the National Survey of Family Growth.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the National Survey of Family Growth to identify differences in the characteristics of men who did and did not seek infertility care to determine whether such men are representative of the U.S. population.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed the data from the 2002 (cycle 6) National Survey of Family Growth. In-home interviews were conducted from March 2002 to February 2003. A total of 4928 men were surveyed, with underrepresented groups sampled at greater rates to provide an adequate sample size for meaningful statistical analyses. The use of infertility services was queried by a single question: "Have you been to a doctor to talk about ways to help have a baby together?" The demographic and socioeconomic variables, including age, marital status, number of children, race, religion, income, education, and insurance status were analyzed for the 2161 men surveyed who were aged 30-45 years. We performed bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses to determine the predictors of infertility service use.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Marital status and education level were strongly associated with infertility care seeking. In the adjusted analysis, married men were 9 times (odds ratio 9.3, 95% confidence interval 4.1-20.9) more likely to seek care than unmarried men, and men with a college degree and those with an advanced degree were 3 times (odds ratio 2.7, 95% confidence interval 1.4-5.0) and 5 times (odds ratio 4.7, 95% confidence interval 2.1-10.5) more likely to seek care, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Men seeking infertility care in the United States tend to be married, older, and more educated than those not seeking care. Given these findings, some results of male infertility studies from cohorts of men from infertility referral centers might not apply to the U.S. population.
authors: Department of Urology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
authors: James M
authors: JM
authors: Hotaling
authors: Michael T
authors: MT
authors: Davenport
authors: Michael L
authors: ML
authors: Eisenberg
authors: Stephen K
authors: SK
authors: VanDenEeden
authors: Thomas J
authors: TJ
authors: Walsh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004522:Educational Status; D005193:Family Planning Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012099:Reproductive Techniques / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology