Racial and Ethnic Differences in Self-reported Satisfaction With Fertility Clinics and Doctors

Abstract

Objective: To investigate if differences in self-reported satisfaction with fertility clinics and doctors differ by race/ethnicity. Study Design: We used cross-sectional survey data from FertilityIQ online questionnaires completed by patients receiving U.S. fertility care from July 2015 to December 2020. Univariate and multivariate logistic and linear regression analyses performed to assess association of race/ethnicity on patient reported clinic and physician satisfaction. Results: Our total sample size included 21,472 patients (15,986 Caucasian, 1,856 Black, 1,780 LatinX, 771 East Asian, 619 South Asian, 273 Middle Eastern, 187 Native American self-reported). When adjusting for all confounders (demographic and patient satisfaction), we found that Black patients rated their doctors more highly (OR 1.30, 95% CI 1.04-1.62 p=0.022 logistic and Coef 0.082, 95% CI 0.013-0.15 p=0.02 linear), while other ethnic groups did not show significant differences compared to Caucasian patients. East Asians had borderline lower satisfaction with clinic satisfaction in logistic regression (OR 0.74 95% CI 0.55-1.00 p=0.05), while significant differences were not found for other ethnic groups for clinic satisfaction. Conclusions: In summary, some but not all minority groups differed in their self-reported perception of satisfaction with fertility clinic and doctors compared to Caucasian patients. Cultural differences towards surveys may contribute to some of these findings, and satisfaction by racial/ethnic group may also be modified by results of care.