A fertility needs assessment survey of male cancer patients

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pon.4874 Samara Perez Sylvie D. Lambert Virginia Lee Carmen G. Loiselle Peter Chan Abha Gupta Kirk Lo Zeev Rosberger Phyllis Zelkowitz First published: 03 September 2018 https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.4874 Read the full text ePDFPDFTOOLS SHARE Abstract Objective To describe fertility‐related informational needs and practices, and to examine if demographic characteristics are related to these needs and practices. Methods A needs assessment survey was conducted at three Canadian cancer centres. Results 192 male cancer patients (Mage = 33.6) completed the survey. Most patients (70%) recalled having had a discussion with a health care provider regarding their fertility and 44% banked their sperm. Patients reported not getting all the information that they wanted, eg, the risk that a future child may have the same type of cancer (78%), and what was covered by insurance plans (71%). Barriers to sperm preservation were urgency to begin cancer treatment (49%), not planning to have a child in the future (47%) and worries that cancer could be passed on to future children (38%). Participants' age and being the parent of a child were significantly associated with having had a discussion about fertility. Participants' age, province, being the parent of a child and the desire for future children were significantly associated with fertility preservation. Conclusions Discussions with health care providers were more frequent, and fertility preservation rates were higher than in past studies, but still not all patients' questions were answered. Misconceptions about passing on cancer to one's child, and that sperm preservation will delay treatment, should be dispelled. Health care providers can ask patients if they have any desire to have children in the future as a way to initiate a discussion of fertility preservation. Key information gaps and psychosocial resource needs are suggested to fully meet male cancer patients' fertility‐related concerns. Supporting Information Filename Description pon4874-sup-0001-Supplemental_Figure_1.docxWord 2007 document , 76.1 KB Figure S1. Percentage of Information received and percentage of whether ranked as helpful or not helpful pon4874-sup-0002-Supplemental_Figure_2.docxWord 2007 document , 140.3 KB Figure S2. Information not received and desire for such information pon4874-sup-0003-Supplemental_Figure_3.docxWord 2007 document , 70.9 KB Figure S3. Reasons Endorsed for undergoing FP (n = 84) pon4874-sup-0004-Supplemental_Figure_4.docxWord 2007 document , 88.9 KB Figure S4. Reasons endorsed for not undergoing FP (n = 108) pon4874-sup-0005-Supplemental_Table_1.docxWord 2007 document , 18.5 KB Table S1. Participants' cancer diagnoses (N = 192) †Sums are greater than 192 as a few participants (n = 6) selected more than one cancer site Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.