Youth and infertility. An Italian study

Infertility is the inability to conceive after one year of unprotected sexual intercourse and is a global public health issue. The lack of information on infertility from experts is a constant and sources of information can therefore have different and sometimes opposite impacts on the perception of risk. The time spent by young people at university is a phase of maturation and transition to adulthood. It is therefore very important to assess how and to what extent university students consider their future fertility/infertility and what and how much knowledge they have about their lifestyles and the direct and indirect impact these can have on infertility. For these reasons, this study has sought to examine the information and perception on the subject of infertility in a sample of Italian university students. The survey tool was a structured questionnaire on line and 2268 valid questionnaires had been collected. Three themes of analysis had been identified: information on infertility, the lifestyles most at risk for infertility, the perception of the risk of infertility, and the consequent actions in case of diagnosis of infertility or suspicion of infertility. The gender difference and the faculty attended has significant effect on these data. With regard to the perception of the risk of infertility is confirmed the bias of juvenile optimism.