Women's opinion on the use and offer of ovarian reserve testing: A First step towards a wide ranged social discussion

Objective. To determine the opinion among three groups of women (sub-fertile women, fertile women and female medical students), concerning the use of ovarian reserve tests to determine the chance of an assisted reproductive techniques' (ART) induced pregnancy or a spontaneous pregnancy. Design. Prospective study using questionnaires in three groups of women: patients visiting the out patient infertility clinic at the Academic Medical Centre Groningen, women who had delivered at least two children and female medical students. Results. The response rate varied from 63% (female medical students) to 56% (fertile women with children) and 48% (subfertile women). The greater part of women of all three groups found it was up to the women themselves to decide whether or not to start fertility treatment, even though the ovarian reserve test indicated little chance of success. 71% of the sub-fertile women stated that any chance justified fertility treatment. None of the three groups of women were very enthusiastic about the use of these tests for family planning. Conclusions. Based on results of ovarian reserve tests women could decide not to partake of a - generally demanding fertility treatment. The outcome of the study, however, does not support this: even low chances of success are found acceptable. The ability to determine the individual ovarian reserve makes this test also a suitable device for family planning. The discussion whether these new possibilities will be useful for reproductive science will greatly depend on women's attitude towards this issue.