Eline Dancet

Ongoing pregnancy qualifies best as the primary outcome measure of choice in trials in reproductive medicine: an opinion paper.

The most appropriate primary outcome measure for reproductive medicine has been discussed frequently. In 2003 the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology recommended that the outcome measure of assisted reproductive technology (ART) and non-ART should be singleton live birth. Although live birth is indeed the aim of clinical practice, and there is no discussion that it should be reported in infertility trials, we hereby provide arguments that plead for using ongoing pregnancy as the primary outcome in such trials. We feel that ongoing pregnancy best serves the many purposes of a primary outcome and best reflects the effectiveness of a treatment.

Detecting Endometriosis in Adolescents: Why Not Start from Self-Report Screening Questionnaires for Adult Women?

Background: Endometriosis in adolescent girls is often diagnosed after a long delay. This diagnostic delay can be associated with more advanced stages of endometriosis and with a higher likelihood of fertility problems at a later age. Material and Methods: A systematic review of literature and quality assessment was performed in order to identify questionnaires that were developed to identify adult women with endometriosis. Based on these questionnaires, specific questions that had been reported to be predictive for endometriosis were selected and included in a newly composed questionnaire with the aim to identify adolescents at risk of developing endometriosis. Results: Based on the literature, we identified 5 questionnaires developed to identify adult women with endometriosis; this questionnaire contained 6 questions that had been reported to be predictive for adult endometriosis. These questions query age of menarche, cycle duration, dysmenorrhea, pain descriptors, dyschezia and urinary symptoms and were combined into a new self-report questionnaire aimed to identify adolescents at risk to develop endometriosis. Conclusion: We developed a self-report questionnaire aimed to identify adolescents at risk to develop endometriosis based on questions from self-report questionnaires that have been reported to identify adult women with endometriosis.

Acceptability of Preclinical Research on Nonhuman Primates in Reproductive Medicine The Patient Perspective

The attitude of patients with reproductive disorders regarding the use of nonhuman primates (NHPs) in preclinical reproductive research and its determinants was examined. A survey was conducted on 299 patients with fertility problems and/or endometriosis in a European fertility center (RR = 80%). The main outcome measure was the attitude toward reproductive research on NHPs. In total, 70.6% accept and 29.4% reject NHP research. Factors significantly positively related to acceptance are confidence in researchers and previous pregnancy. Factors significantly negatively related to acceptance include having a pet, membership of a nature organization, vegetarian, and having lived abroad. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first on patients’ perspective on NHP research. The majority of the patients accept reproductive research on NHPs. Trust in researchers was the most important positively related factor; therefore, researchers are advised to actively try to gain the trust of patients and the public.