Economic aspects of infertility care: a challenge for researchers and clinicians: Figure 1
Open accessAbstract
Infertility care has improved remarkably over the last few decades and has received growing attention from health care providers. Several treatments, including expensive options such as Assisted Reproductive Techniques, are now widely available for routine clinical use. In most cases, adoption of these treatments has occurred without robust cost-effective analyses. IVF for unexplained infertility and ICSI in the absence of semen abnormalities are two examples of this gradual technology creep. More in-depth economic analyses in the field of infertility are undoubtedly warranted. However, performing these analyses is challenging because infertility care poses a number of unique challenges. Studies of cost-effectiveness are open to criticism because there is a lack of consensus about the outcomes of choice and the appropriate perspective. The use of quality adjusted life years (QALYs) to allow comparisons with other clinical conditions is also controversial because the value associated with infertility care cannot be easily captured in QALYs. Moreover, their use triggers the crucial question of whose QALYs merit consideration-an individual's, a couple's or a child's. In conclusion, economic analysis in infertility represents a peculiar but crucial challenge. If management of infertility is to become an integral part of publicly or privately funded health care systems worldwide, better quality data and a shared vision about the costs and benefits of infertility treatments are needed.
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Fertility care is cost-effective and represents a positive return on public investment through the future economic value of babies resulting from fertility treatments.
“Indeed, fertility care is cost-effective and represents a positive return on public investment through the future economic value of babies resulting from fertility treatments (ESHRE Capri Workshop Group, 2015).”
From Declining global fertility rates and the implications for family planning and family building: an IFFS consensus document based on a narrative review of the literature (2024) · cites this paper as ESHRE Capri Workshop Group, 2015
The “Full economic analysis of the value of conceiving a child through IVF” section says reimbursing IVF is cost-effective from a macroeconomic perspective and reports an estimated eightfold government return from an ART-conceived child’s future taxes. But the claim extends that conclusion to fertility care generally: the same section notes a population for whom IVF was not cost-effective, and the Conclusions call for better evidence and economic models. Page numbers are not provided in the supplied passages. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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Fauser, B. C. J. M., Adamson, G. D., Boivin, J., Chambers, G. M., de Geyter, C., Dyer, S., Inhorn, M. C., Schmidt, L., Serour, G. I., Tarlatzis, B., et al. (2024) · Human Reproduction Update · doi:10.1093/humupd/dmad028 · Cited by 224 · see citing works
“Indeed, fertility care is cost-effective and represents a positive return on public investment through the future economic value of babies resulting from fertility treatments (ESHRE Capri Workshop Group, 2015).”
BackgroundSelf-citationPrevalence of depression in infertile men: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Kiani, Z., Fakari, F. R., Hakimzadeh, A., Hajian, S., Fakari, F. R., & Nasiri, M. (2023) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-023-16865-4 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
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- Authors
- ESHRE Capri Workshop Group, ESHRE Capri Workshop Group, Baird, D. T., Barri, P. N., Bhattacharya, S., Devroey, P., Evers, J. L. H., Gianaroli, L., Somigliana, E., Tapanainen, J. S., van Wely, M., Crosignani, P. G., Diedrich, K., Fraser, L. R., Geraedts, J. P. M., Lundin, K., Sunde, A., Tarlatzis, B., Steirteghem, A. V., Veiga, A., Bhattacharya, S., Crosignani, P. G., Evers, J. L. H., & Somigliana, E.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Human Reproduction
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2015-07-03
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 2243-2248
- ISSN
- 0268-1161 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2350
- OpenAlex
- W2228973427
- Cited by
- 89
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 7.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Human Reproduction (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Pure Amsterdam UMC (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) (submittedVersion)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Institut Biochimique S.A.
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Reproductive Health and Technologies
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Assisted Reproductive Technology and Twin Pregnancy
- Keywords
- infertility treatment, cost-effectiveness analysis, assisted reproduction, in vitro fertilization, intracytoplasmic sperm injection, unexplained infertility, quality-adjusted life years, health care financing, outcome measures
- MeSH terms
- Cost-Benefit Analysis, Embryo Transfer, Female, Fertilization in Vitro, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Infertility, Male, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Outcome, Semen, Reproductive Medicine, Models, Economic, Quality-Adjusted Life Years, Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic, Reproductive Techniques, Assisted, Biomedical Research
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