May be based on false impressions: fear of failure deters many from infertility Tx.(Gynecology)

RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIF. -- Far fewer than half of the infertile couples in the United States eventually become pregnant, Dr. G. David Adamson said at the annual meeting of the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society.

Prospective patients who might have had an excellent chance of conceiving wait too long to seek help, or, even more frequently, do not pursue specialty care out of fear of the expense, the risks, and the possibility that they will never succeed.

"Two-thirds to three-fourths of patients who should come to see us never see us," he said.

Reimbursement issues play a role in that failure, but so do psychological factors and misconceptions.

Pamela Madsen, executive director of the American Infertility Association, said a recent Internet survey of 534 members determined that the biggest concern of infertile couples was not money, but defeat.

"An astonishing number of the infertile are ... absolutely deer in the headlights, frozen in fear of failure," she said.

They assume they will spend their life's savings and endure years of difficult treatments and end up with an empty crib or a van full of multiples it would literally take a village to raise. Many times, their anxiety is based on false impressions garnered through the media or the Internet, she said.