Factors associated with adolescent and young adult females attending a fertility consultation within 30 days of a cancer diagnosis in Ontario, Canada

Purpose — To examine the factors associated with females attending a fertility consultation within 30 days of cancer diagnosis.

Methods — This is a retrospective cohort study, including females, 15 to 39 years of age, diagnosed with cancer in Ontario, Canada. Administrative data were used from the Institute of Clinical and Evaluative Sciences for the period 2006 to 2019. A backward selection multivariate logistic regression was performed, with a primary outcome of fertility consultation within 30 days of diagnosis.

Results — A total of 20,556 females were included in the study, with 7% having attended a fertility visit within 30 days of diagnosis. Factors associated with being more likely to attend included: not currently having children (odds ratio [OR] = 4.3; confidence interval [95% CI 3.6–5.1]), later years of diagnosis (OR = 3.2; 95% CI [2.8–3.8]), having undergone chemotherapy (OR = 3.6; 95% CI [3.0–4.3]) or radiation therapy (OR = 1.9; 95% CI [1.6–2.2]), and less marginalization within dependency quintiles (OR 1.4; 95% CI [1.1–1.7]). Having a cancer with lower risk to fertility (OR = 0.3; 95% CI [0.2–0.3]), death within a year of diagnosis (OR = 0.4; 95% CI [0.3–0.6]), and residing in a northern region of Ontario (OR = 0.3; 95% CI [0.2–0.4]) were associated with being less likely to attend. For sociodemographic factors, lower levels of income (OR = 0.5; 95% CI [0.4–0.6]) and marginalization with residential instability (OR = 0.6; 95% CI [0.5–0.8]) were associated with being less likely to attend a fertility consultation.

Conclusions — Rates for attendance of female fertility consultations after a cancer diagnosis remain low, with disparities by both clinical and demographic factors.