P –720 Prevalence of Female Infertility in the UK Armed Forces

AbstractStudy questionWhat is the prevalence of female infertility among UK military personnel and does it differ from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and civilian populations?Summary answerPrevalence of self-reported infertility was higher in servicewomen (31.7%) and female MPS officers (36.3%) than in civilian women (24.4%).What is known alreadyArduous employment is associated with numerous potential occupational hazards and behaviours that may be relevant to fertility. These include physical and psychological stress, smoking, alcohol drinking and other lifestyle factors. A preliminarily report in 2016 indicated that UK servicewomen over 30 years of age were more likely to present with fertility problems compared with reported civilian infertility data for age-matched women. Few previous studies have compared infertility prevalence of servicewomen with civilians, and none have compared infertility prevalence with other occupations.Study design, size, durationA cross-sectional study was undertaken in 2019 to determine prevalence of infertility. All eligible UK servicewomen (14,650) and MPS officers (8,262) aged 18 –60 years were invited to participate with sisters of participants recruited as controls using a snowball technique. Data including pregnancy history, time to each pregnancy and self-reported infertility risk-factors were collected using an online questionnaire. We estimated a sample of 4898 servi cewomen would give a precision of 1% around infertility prev...
Source: Human Reproduction - Category: Reproduction Medicine Source Type: research