Agreement to Referral for Consultation and Utilization of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Services among Female Childhood Cancer Survivors from a Regional Childhood Cancer Survivorship Clinic.
Among 80 female childhood cancer survivors aged 16–40 years who had received gonadotoxic therapy and lacked prior fertility preservation or post-treatment REI referral, 7 agreed to referral, 1 attended a consultation, and none underwent fertility preservation.
Open original publication →What the AI sees
Among 80 female childhood cancer survivors aged 16–40 years who had received gonadotoxic therapy and lacked prior fertility preservation or post-treatment REI referral, 7 agreed to referral, 1 attended a consultation, and none underwent fertility preservation.
Research significance
The reported low progression from counseling to referral, consultation, and fertility preservation suggests—without testing—that barrier-informed navigation or other post-treatment engagement interventions could increase use of reproductive endocrinology and infertility services.
Source abstract
Counseling on infertility risk and fertility preservation (FP) is recommended for childhood cancer survivors (CCS). We describe agreement to and receipt of reproductive endocrinology and infertility (REI) services after counseling during survivorship clinic among female CCS 16-40 years old exposed to gonadotoxic therapy. Of 80 eligible CCS without prior FP or post-therapy REI referrals, 7 (9%) agreed to REI referrals, 1 (1%) attended REI consults, and 0 underwent FP. Survivors who agreed and did not agree to REI referrals had similar characteristics and infertility risk. Research to better understand patient-level barriers post-therapy and increase FP engagement is warranted.