Lene Tølbøll Blenstrup

Danish registers on aspects of reproduction

Introduction: The establishing of three Danish population-based registers, namely the Fertility Database, the Register of Legally Induced Abortions, and the In Vitro Fertilisation register, aimed at providing data for surveying of reproductive outcome. Content: The registers include information on births, abortions, and assisted reproduction as well as selected characteristics of the women (and men) involved. Validity and coverage: Both the validity and coverage of each register are considered of high quality. Conclusion: These registers provide, both individually and in combination, unique opportunities for undertaking detailed and comprehensive research in the field of reproduction.

Impact of childlessness on life and attitudes towards continuation of medically assisted reproduction and/or adoption

Abstract Infertility and fertility treatment have the potential to impact and disrupt a couples overall life. In order to study the associations between the impact of childlessness on ones life, and men and womens attitudes towards fertility treatment continuation and/or adoption, we analysed data from a one-year follow-up questionnaire in a prospective, longitudinal cohort study of consecutive couples initiating fertility treatment in Denmark. The study comprised 302 couples with no children at baseline and no joint children at one-year follow-up. In total, 71.9% of women and 72.5% of men reported that they wished to continue fertility treatment, while 20.2% of women and 19.2% of men reported that they wished to pursue adoption. The attitudes of nearly 8 in 10 couples were congruent towards further fertility treatments, while nearly 7 in 10 couples were congruent in their attitudes to pursuing adoption. Significantly more men who reported a lower impact of childlessness on their daily life wished to continue fertility treatment, compared with those reporting that childlessness had a greater impact on their life. Among women, significantly more were undecided about whether or not to pursue adoption when reporting a greater impact of childlessness on social life, compared with those reporting a lower impact of their childlessness.