Social Egg Freezing in Israel – Do Women Take Advantage of their Opportunities?

Introduction:

In Israel, oocyte freezing has been approved in 2011, allowing women aged 30-40 years old to self-finance up to 4 retrievals or obtaining 20 eggs (whichever comes first). It is estimated that 15 metaphase II oocytes will result in 90% cumulative live birth rate in women ≤35 years old, compared to 35% in women>35 years old. Limited data exists regarding social freezing in Israel.

Aim:

To evaluate whether women utilize their legal privilege to perform up to 4 elective retrievals in order to maximize future live birth chances

Methods and Materials:

A retrospective cohort study performed at a single academic center between 2011-2017. Medical records were screened to identify patients undergoing social egg freezing. Patient’s and cycle’s data were collected and analyzed.

Results:

47 women underwent a total of 61 social fertility preservation cycles, 75% of them were >35 years old when the first cycle was performed, and mean age at first cycle was 36.4 ± 2.1 years. The majority of women (89%) were single, 23.3% had ovarian reserve markers indicating reduced ovarian reserve prior to the first cycle. The mean number of oocytes being frozen at first cycle was 11.9 ± 9.9, and 25% of the cycles ended in freezing less than 5 oocytes.78% percent of women underwent only one cycle, 12.7% had two cycles, 6.3% ≥ 3 cycles. Only 17% of women yielded ≥20 frozen eggs after one preservation cycle.

Conclusions:

Most women do not exploit their full elective preservation options, most probably due to economic burden.