Use of the Internet by infertile couples

Objective: To evaluate and compare the extent of Internet use by infertile couples attending a government-funded and a private assisted reproductive t echnology clinic. Design: A prospective study. Setting: One private and one public tertiary care fertility clinic in Toron to. Patient(s): 250 patients were approached, and 150 (60%) responded. Interven tion(s): A self-administered questionnaire on socioeconomic status, fertili ty history, and computer and Internet use. Main Outcome Measure(s): The extent of Internet use on fertility-related is sues was determined, correlated with socioeconomic status and fertility his tory, and compared between the two clinics. Result(s): Higher levels of education, employment, and combined family inco me characterized patients at the private clinic. A similarly high proportio n of patients at both clinics had previous experience with the Internet (me an, 75.3%). Overall, 42% of the total study population and 55.8% of current Internet users had used the Internet for fertility-related issues. Using a logistic regression model, none of the patients' socioeconomic or clinical variables predicted Internet use. Thirty percent of the patients found the Internet helpful in their decision making process. Conclusion(s): A considerable proportion of infertile couples from all soci oeconomic levels is actively using the Internet with regard to their fertil ity problems. Health care providers should consider the Internet an importa nt tool for all aspects of their interaction with infertile persons. (C) 20 00 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.