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Social oocyte freezing: A survey among S ingaporean female medical students
Author(s) -
Tan Shu Qi,
Tan Andy Wei Keat,
Lau Matthew Sie Kuei,
Tan Heng Hao,
Nadarajah Sadhana
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of obstetrics and gynaecology research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.597
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1447-0756
pISSN - 1341-8076
DOI - 10.1111/jog.12347
Subject(s) - medicine , oocyte , andrology , family medicine , genetics , embryo , biology
Aim 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 S ingapore. 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. Conclusion 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.