Social Freezing: Pressing Pause on Fertility

Abstract

Increasing numbers of women are undergoing oocyte or tissue cryopreservation for medical or social reasons to increase their chances of having genetic children. Social egg freezing (SEF) allows women to preserve their fertility in anticipation of age-related fertility decline and ineffective fertility treatments at older ages. The purpose of this study was to summarize recent findings focusing on the challenges of elective egg freezing. We performed a systematic literature review on social egg freezing published during the last ten years. From the systematically screened literature, we identified and analyzed five main topics of interest during the last decade: (a) different fertility preservation techniques, (b) safety of freezing, (c) usage rate of frozen oocytes, (d) ethical considerations, and (e) cost-effectiveness of SEF. Fertility can be preserved for non-medical reasons through oocyte, embryos, or ovarian tissue cryopreservation, with oocyte vitrification being a new and optimal approach. Elective oocyte cryopreservation is better accepted, supports social gender equality, and enhances women’s reproductive autonomy. Despite controversies, planned oocyte cryopreservation appears as a chosen strategy against age-related infertility and may allow women to feel that they are more socially, psychologically, and financially stable before motherhood.

Study Regarding a New Extended-Release Calcium Ascorbate and Hesperidin Solid Oral Formulation

“…In addition, the need for vitamin C increases during intense physical activities [7,8] and in children regularly exposed to cigarette smoke [9,10]. Vitamin C is also recommended in pregnancy and lactation [11], during the growth period of children [12], in diseases such as periodontitis, gingivitis, stomatitis, fractures, osteoporosis [13]. It is also supplemented in haemorrhage due to capillary fragility [14], iron deficiency anaemia (with iron or folic acid), overwork, neurasthenia, prolonged physical effort, serious illness, surgical interventions [15,16].…”

More benefit or harm? Moral contextualism shapes public attitudes towards social egg freezing

“…Participants were also sensible to concerns about the use of surplus oocytes. This is often crucial in ethical discussions about cryopreservation and other ART (Benagiano et al, 2011;Varlas et al, 2021). If a lower number of oocytes is collected for preservation, acceptance is generally higher but a lower number of oocytes reduces the chance of a life birth (Wennberg, 2020).…”

“…Others stress women's gains in reproductive autonomy (Wennberg, 2020). From a medical ethics perspective, the discussion mostly concerns the success rates for giving live birth from a preserved oocyte, open questions regarding the use of oocytes not used for birth giving, or the cost-effectiveness of the treatments (for a recent overview, see Varlas et al, 2021). From a social science perspective, the discussion about moral implications is broader.…”

Oncofertility and COVID-19: At the Crossroads between Two Time-Sensitive Fields

“…Cancer patients requiring FP may choose for the cryopreservation of embryos, reproductive cells, and tissues depending on patient age, cancer type, and disease prognosis, correlated with cryopreservation safety in the COVID-19 pandemic [ 67 ]. For fertility preservation purposes, reproductive cells and tissues are treated with specific cryoprotectants and immersed in liquid nitrogen (LN2) at ultra-low cooling temperatures of −196 °C [ 68 , 69 , 70 ]. Due to its high protein structure and low water content, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has an increased cryo-resistance, being stable at 4 °C, reaching maximum viability [ 71 ].…”