“Age is Just a Number”: How Celebrity-Driven Magazines Misrepresent Fertility at Advanced Reproductive Ages

In the USA, the postponement of childbearing reflects contemporary social norms of delaying marriage, pursing educational goals and securing economic stability prior to attempting conception. Although university students are more likely to delay childbearing, it is unclear to what extent they are aware of age-related fertility decline. The current study is the first of its kind to assess fertility awareness and parenting attitudes of American undergraduate university students. Two-hundred forty-six randomly selected undergraduate university students (138 females and 108 males) completed an online self-report survey adapted from the Swedish Fertility Awareness Questionnaire. Students were evenly distributed between the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior classes with a mean age of 20.4 years. Participants wanted to have their first and last child within the window of a woman's fertility. However, participants demonstrated a lack of fertility awareness by vastly overestimating the age at which women experience declines in fertility, the likelihood of pregnancy following unprotected intercourse and the chances that IVF treatments would be successful in the case of infertility. Nearly 9 in 10 participants want to have children in the future and viewed parenthood as a highly important aspect of their future lives. Delaying childbearing based on incorrect perceptions of female fertility could lead to involuntary childlessness. Education regarding fertility issues is necessary to help men and women make informed reproductive decisions that are based on accurate information rather than incorrect perceptions.

The proportion of women who are intentionally delaying pregnancy beyond the age of 35 years has increased greatly in the past few decades because of the clash between the optimal biological period for women to have children with obtaining additional education and building a career. This article highlights the effects of delayed childbearing on fertility and obstetric and perinatal outcome. Demographic studies indicate that fertility rates are falling in many countries, Europe being the continent with lowest total fertility rate. Female employment and childrearing can be combined when the reduction in work-family conflict is facilitated by state of policy intervention. It has been traditionally accepted that fertility is more related to the age of the female than the male partner but recent literature suggests trends that increased paternal age is also associated with lower fertility, an increase in pregnancy-associated complications and an increase in adverse outcome in the offspring. Delayed childbearing is rarely a conscious choice and women are unaware that, at present, with the exception of egg donation, assisted reproductive technology has no answer yet to age-related decline of female fertility. There is no evidence of a beneficial effect of preimplantation genetic screening for women of advanced maternal age. Concerning perinatal outcomes, apart from the known effects of advanced maternal age on common fetal and obstetric complications, recent evidence increasingly points toward an independent association between maternal (and paternal age) and cerebral palsy, neurocognitive and psychiatric disorders. The consequences of advancing maternal and paternal age are not only relevant for the risk of natural and assisted conception, but also for the outcome of pregnancy. Although the absolute rate of poor pregnancy outcomes may be low from an individual standpoint, the impact of delaying childbearing from a public health perspective cannot be overestimated and should be in the agenda of public health policies for the years to come.

To better understand women's beliefs, priorities, and attitudes toward oocyte cryopreservation, to appreciate the extent of their reproductive education, and to track the reproductive paths of women who chose to undergo oocyte cryopreservation treatment.