Abstract
Research question
What is the discontinuation rate among patients with remaining cryopreserved embryos
in Belgium and what are the reasons for discontinuation?
Design
Multicentre, cross-sectional study across 11 Belgian fertility clinics. Patients were
eligible (n = 1917) if they had previously undergone an unsuccessful fresh embryo transfer (fresh
group) or frozen embryo transfer (FET) (in-between group) and did not start a subsequent
FET cycle within 1 year despite having remaining cryopreserved embryos. The denominator
was all patients with embryos cryopreserved during the same period (2012–2017) (n = 21,329). Data were collected through an online anonymous questionnaire.
Results
The discontinuation rate for patients with remaining cryopreserved embryos was 9%
(1917/21329). For the final analysis, 304 completed questionnaires were included.
The most important reasons for discontinuing FET cycles were psychological (50%) and
physical (43%) burden, effect on work (29%), woman's age (25%) and effect on the relationship
(25%). In 69% of cases, the patient themselves made the decision to delay FET treatment.
In 16% of respondents, the decision to delay FET was determined by external factors:
treating physician (9%), social environment (4%), close family (3%) and society (3%).
Suggested improvements were psychological support before (41%), during (51%) and after
(51%) treatment, as well as lifestyle counselling (44%) and receiving digital information
(43%).
Conclusions
The discontinuation rate is remarkably high in patients with remaining cryopreserved
embryos who have a good prognosis. Respondents stressed the need to improve the integration
of psychological and patient-tailored care into daily assisted reproductive technology
practice.
KEYWORDS
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Biography
Frauke Vanden Meerschaut, MD, PhD, has worked in reproductive medicine since 2009. In 2013, she obtained her doctorate at Ghent University, Belgium, for research on oocyte activation and fertilization failure after intracytoplasmic sperm injection. She is a staff member at the Department for Reproductive Medicine at Ghent University Hospital, Belgium.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 16, 2022
Accepted:
October 12,
2022
Received in revised form:
September 18,
2022
Received:
May 25,
2022
Declaration: The authors report no financial or commercial conflicts of interest.Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
