Women's awareness and perceptions of delay in childbearing

Objective

To explore women's awareness of issues associated with delayed childbearing, including its social and medical implications and the limitations of available treatment.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

University-based tertiary care clinics.

Patient(s)

Three hundred sixty-two women attending a subfertility clinic and 362 pregnant women.

Intervention(s)

A precoded questionnaire.

Main Outcome Measure(s)

Awareness and perceptions of issues surrounding delay in childbearing.

Result(s)

Subfertile women were, on average, 3.3 years older (95% confidence interval 2.5–4.1) and more likely to have tried for their first pregnancy after the age of 30 years (37.3% vs. 24.6%). Despite awareness of the impact of age on fertility, 85% of the subfertile group expected IVF to overcome the effects of age compared with 77% of the pregnant population. Knowledge about age-related obstetric risks, such as trisomy 21, was similar in both groups (86.3% vs. 85%). Almost all participants (94.5%) believed that women should be informed about the implications of delaying childbearing at an early age.

Conclusion(s)

Women are largely aware of the risks and complications of delaying childbirth, but erroneously believe that IVF can reverse the effects of age. There is a need to provide accurate information in the community.

Key Words: Perceptions, delayed childbearing, age, subfertility, awareness