TY - JOUR
T1 - COVID-19 and assisted reproductive technology services
T2 - Repercussions for patients and proposal for individualized clinical management
AU - Alviggi, Carlo
AU - Esteves, Sandro C.
AU - Orvieto, Raoul
AU - Conforti, Alessandro
AU - La Marca, Antonio
AU - Fischer, Robert
AU - Andersen, Claus Y.
AU - Bühler, Klaus
AU - Sunkara, Sesh K.
AU - Polyzos, Nikolaos P.
AU - Strina, Ida
AU - Carbone, Luigi
AU - Bento, Fabiola C.
AU - Galliano, Daniela
AU - Yarali, Hakan
AU - Vuong, Lan N.
AU - Grynberg, Michael
AU - Drakopoulos, Panagiotis
AU - Xavier, Pedro
AU - Llacer, Joaquin
AU - Neuspiller, Fernando
AU - Horton, Marcos
AU - Roque, Matheus
AU - Papanikolaou, Evangelos
AU - Banker, Manish
AU - Dahan, Michael H.
AU - Foong, Shu
AU - Tournaye, Herman
AU - Blockeel, Christophe
AU - Vaiarelli, Alberto
AU - Humaidan, Peter
AU - Ubaldi, Filippo M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s).
PY - 2020/5/13
Y1 - 2020/5/13
N2 - The prolonged lockdown of health services providing high-complexity fertility treatments -as currently recommended by many reproductive medicine entities- is detrimental for society as a whole, and infertility patients in particular. Globally, approximately 0.3% of all infants born every year are conceived using assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatments. By contrast, the total number of COVID-19 deaths reported so far represents approximately 1.0% of the total deaths expected to occur worldwide over the first three months of the current year. It seems, therefore, that the number of infants expected to be conceived and born -but who will not be so due to the lockdown of infertility services- might be as significant as the total number of deaths attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. We herein propose remedies that include a prognostic-stratification of more vulnerable infertility cases in order to plan a progressive restart of worldwide fertility treatments. At a time when preventing complications and limiting burdens for national health systems represent relevant issues, our viewpoint might help competent authorities and health care providers to identify patients who should be prioritized for the continuation of fertility care in a safe environment.
AB - The prolonged lockdown of health services providing high-complexity fertility treatments -as currently recommended by many reproductive medicine entities- is detrimental for society as a whole, and infertility patients in particular. Globally, approximately 0.3% of all infants born every year are conceived using assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatments. By contrast, the total number of COVID-19 deaths reported so far represents approximately 1.0% of the total deaths expected to occur worldwide over the first three months of the current year. It seems, therefore, that the number of infants expected to be conceived and born -but who will not be so due to the lockdown of infertility services- might be as significant as the total number of deaths attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. We herein propose remedies that include a prognostic-stratification of more vulnerable infertility cases in order to plan a progressive restart of worldwide fertility treatments. At a time when preventing complications and limiting burdens for national health systems represent relevant issues, our viewpoint might help competent authorities and health care providers to identify patients who should be prioritized for the continuation of fertility care in a safe environment.
KW - Assisted reproductive technology
KW - COVID-19
KW - In vitro fertilization
KW - Infertility
KW - Intracytoplasmic sperm injection
KW - Poseidon criteria
KW - Viewpoint
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85084627060&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12958-020-00605-z
DO - 10.1186/s12958-020-00605-z
M3 - Review article
C2 - 32404170
AN - SCOPUS:85084627060
SN - 1477-7827
VL - 18
JO - Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology
JF - Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology
IS - 1
M1 - 45
ER -