Can Social Support on Facebook Influence Fertility Outcomes?
Facebook
Fertility outcomes
In vitro fertilization
Social media
Social support
Journal
Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.)
ISSN: 1933-7205
Titre abrégé: Reprod Sci
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 101291249
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
01 2022
01 2022
Historique:
received:
21
01
2021
accepted:
05
05
2021
pubmed:
20
5
2021
medline:
12
3
2022
entrez:
19
5
2021
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Social support is known to reduce stress and increase quality of life among patients undergoing IVF. Increasing social media use introduces a social support mechanism, yet data regarding the effect of this support on IVF outcomes are scarce. This observational, retrospective cohort study included women undergoing their first IVF cycle at an academic tertiary medical center. Fertility outcomes were compared between 82 women who were active users of social media (posting on Facebook at least 3 times a week) and 83 women who did not use Facebook or any other social media platform (the control group). For the social media group, we coded all Facebook Feed activities (Posts, Comments, Likes) for each participant up to 8 weeks prior to beta hCG test. Social support was measured by average Likes and Comments per post, on fertility outcomes. The social media group included more single women than the control group (17% vs. 5%, respectively, p = 0.012) and had a shorter infertility duration (1.6 ± 0.9 years vs. 2.3 ± 1.4, respectively, p = 0.001(. We found a trend in fertilization rates between groups (social media group 58% vs. controls 50%, p = 0.07). No difference was found regarding pregnancy rate between groups (p = 0.587). The social media group had a lower miscarriage rate compared to the controls (6% vs. 25%, p = 0.042). These results were also validated in the multivariant regression analysis. Social support (via Facebook) may have a positive effect on IVF outcomes, especially regarding miscarriages rate, with minor effect regrading fertilization rate and no effect regarding pregnancy rate. Therefore, encouraging women to be active on Facebook during treatment, including OPU day, may impact treatment results.
Identifiants
pubmed: 34008155
doi: 10.1007/s43032-021-00611-5
pii: 10.1007/s43032-021-00611-5
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Observational Study
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
212-219Informations de copyright
© 2021. Society for Reproductive Investigation.
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