title: Social oocyte freezing: a survey among Singaporean female medical students.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Social oocyte freezing has gained increasing interest worldwide. We conducted a cross-sectional survey on 129 female medical students in Singapore to assess their mindset and attitudes toward fertility and social oocyte freezing.
  
  
  METHODS
  An anonymous online survey was conducted among female medical students in Singapore. The desired sample size was 100 participants. Their awareness of the existence of social oocyte freezing was first assessed. An information leaflet was provided subsequently, followed by a more detailed questionnaire. The questions focused on their awareness of age-related fertility decline and their intentions for social oocyte freezing if made available.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and twenty-nine female students participated in the electronic survey, of whom 36.4% had heard of social oocyte freezing. Of these, 70% had personally considered taking up this option. However, after reading the information leaflet, only 48.9% would still consider this option. Of the total, 89.9% considered themselves too old for pregnancy after the age of 35 years, 37.2% would delay family planning for their career, 45.7% would consider social oocyte freezing to postpone family planning for their career, 46.5% would consider oocyte freezing if they had no suitable partners yet, 50.4% may consider freezing their eggs after the age of 30 years and 71.3% may be more amenable to oocyte freezing if government subsidy is available.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We hypothesize that social oocyte freezing may be a viable option for single young women who wish to delay child-bearing for 'reproductive insurance', so long as this is done with appropriate informed consent with non-directive counseling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Shu Qi
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Andy Wei Keat
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Matthew Sie Kuei
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.forename: Heng Hao
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Sadhana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nadarajah
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015925:Cryopreservation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009865:Oocytes; D012846:Singapore; D013337:Students, Medical
keywords: medical students; reproductive insurance; social oocyte freezing; survey