Public attitude towards social freezing and characterization of potential oocyte freezers.

Introduction
The decline in fertility in many western societies go together with a trend to delay motherhood until later in life. Postponement confronts women with the age related decrease in fertility. Today, women foreseeing motherhood at a more advanced age can stop their biological clock through oocyte cryopreservation. This study also aimed to characterize women that may potentially undergo social oocyte freezing.
Materials and Methods
An electronic survey was completed by 1024 women living in Belgium in June 2009. The questionnaire was mailed to women representative of all social classes, geographic locations within the country and aged between 21 and 40 years, representing the age group for potential oocyte freezers. Prior to the administration of the questionnaire, women received an informative text on oocyte cryopreservation. Women were informed about the possible use of the technique for medical and social reasons the associated risks, side effects and experimental state of the technique. A number of statements were formulated to assess the attitudes towards various aspects of oocyte freezing. The respondents were asked to indicate on a 5-point scale to what extent each attitude applied to them. In total 1049 women out of 1914 filled out the questionnaire leading to a response rate of 55%. Another 25 cases were excluded because of an inconsistent or incomplete answering pattern.
Results
3.1% (n?=?32) of the 1.024 women answered 'yes' to the question whether they would consider to freeze their oocytes. 28.4% (n?=?291) answered 'maybe', 16.7% (n?=?171) stated they 'do not know/have no idea' and half of the women answered 'no' (51.8%; n?=?530). In order to simplify the further analyses, the sample was split up into three groups; 'potential freezers' (answered 'yes' or 'maybe'), the 'doubtful group' and the 'non-freezers'. Potential freezers are more likely to be younger and less often married (23.5% versus 60.9%) or in a cohabiting relationship (31.9% versus 52.4%) when compared to the non-freezers or doubtful group. Potential freezers are also less likely to already have children as compared to non freezers (22.4% vs 64%) (p?Conclusions
This is the first study that has investigated attitudes towards social oocyte freezing in a large group of women of reproductive age. Only a small proportion of women considers to cryopreserve their oocytes, however another 25% state they would maybe consider to undergo such a procedure. This survey also indicates that also women at a young reproductive age would consider the procedure and that potential oocyte freezers would be more inclined to donote if the stored oocytes are no longer needed.