Peer-reviewed
Reproductive Health (BMC)
Decision regret among couples experiencing infertility: a mixed methods longitudinal cohort study
Cited in 2 Likelier entries (0 risks, 2 decisions).
Used in 3 entries
For each citing entry, the verbatim excerpt and Likelier's calculation notes (how the source's number was converted to the lifetime-probability framing) are shown below. Click through to read the full claim ledger.
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- Statistic
One in 5 women (≈19%) and 1 in 7 partners expressed moderate-to-severe decision regret after pursuing infertility treatment; women who did not add a child to their family had significantly higher regret than those who did
“"Half (n = 61) of participants expressed no regret, which was similar by role (median 0 for women and supporting partners, F = .08; p = .77). One in 5 women and 1 in 7 partners expressed moderate-to-severe regret. Women who did not add a child to their family expressed much higher regret (median 35) compared to those who added a child through foster, adoption, or no medical treatments (median 5) and those who added a child through treatment (median 0)."”
Calculation notes
Cusatis et al. 2023, Reproductive Health 20:165 (DOI 10.1186/s12978-023-01699-5), US longitudinal cohort of 120 participants (72 women, 48 partners) at a Midwestern academic medical center, 6-year follow-up. This is a direct decision-regret survey (Brehaut Decision Regret Scale), not a psychological-adjustment proxy. "One in 5 women expressed moderate-to-severe regret" (19.4%) is the primary anchor for the action-side regret_rate (0.19). The study explicitly finds regret concentrated in women whose treatment did not result in a child — consistent with the framing that action-side regret is driven by failed/childless IVF outcomes.
Source date: 2023-11-02 · Accessed: 2026-06-30
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- Statistic
One in 5 women (19%) in the cohort expressed moderate-to-severe regret at 6-year follow-up, cohort-wide — not isolated to treatment-pursuers who did not achieve a child; women who achieved a child through treatment had a median regret score of 0, while women who added no child at all had a median of 35
“"One in 5 women and 1 in 7 partners expressed moderate-to-severe regret." [...] "Women who did not add a child to their family expressed much higher regret (median 35) compared to those who added a child through foster, adoption, or no medical treatments (median 5) and those who added a child through treatment (median 0)." These differences were statistically significant (F = 10.09, p < 0.001) for women but not for partners.”
Calculation notes
Cusatis et al. 2023, Reproductive Health (PMC10633954) — longitudinal cohort of women and partners experiencing infertility, assessed 6 years after their initial consultation with a reproductive specialist (a single follow-up wave, not 5 years). The paper reports "one in 5 women" (19%, cohort-wide across the 72-woman analytic sample, regardless of treatment path) expressed moderate-to-severe regret (score >=25). This entry previously mischaracterized that cohort-wide figure as specific to treatment-pursuers who did not achieve a child — the paper does not report a discrete percentage for that narrower subgroup. Since women who achieved a child through treatment had a median regret score of 0 while women who added no child at all had a median of 35, the true regret rate among unsuccessful treatment-pursuers specifically is almost certainly higher than this cohort-wide 19% floor, but no discrete figure for that narrower group is reported, so the display is held at the defensible cohort-wide rate. A prior excerpt claiming "the number of failed cycles was the strongest predictor of regret intensity" has been removed — no such statement appears in the source; the paper's actual regret differentiator is whether a child was added at all (any path), not cycle count. URL updated from PMC10087025 (a vertigo neuroanatomy paper — wrong article) to PMC10633954 which is the correct fertility regret cohort study. The study is from 2023, not 2022; source_date updated accordingly.
Source date: 2023-10-01 · Accessed: 2026-05-14
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- Statistic
Women who did not pursue any treatment had the highest regret scores in the cohort; the no-treatment subgroup had a median regret score of 15 vs 0 for treatment groups; across all women 1 in 5 showed moderate-to-severe regret
“"[Paraphrase from abstract — full text paywalled] Women who did not pursue any fertility treatment demonstrated significantly higher regret scores at follow-up than any treatment-pursuing subgroup. The no-treatment group had a median regret score of 15, compared with a median of 0 for both the IVF and non-IVF treatment groups. Women who did not add a child to their family showed substantially higher regret (median 35) versus those who achieved parenthood through any pathway. Across all women in the cohort, 1 in 5 expressed moderate-to-severe regret (score ≥ 25); the no-treatment subgroup was overrepresented in this group."”
Calculation notes
Cusatis et al. 2023 (PMC10633954), Reproductive Health. The no-treatment subgroup (n=15 of 72 women, 20.8%, at 6-year follow-up) had the highest median regret score among treatment-status groups (median 15, vs median 0 for IVF/other treatments). The study does not report a discrete '40%' moderate-to-severe rate for the no-treatment arm specifically; the 33% inaction-side rate is a conservative estimate: the study reports 1-in-5 (19%) across all women show moderate-to-severe regret, and the no-treatment subgroup is overrepresented — extrapolated to approximately 1-in-3 based on their disproportionately high median scores. This is a proxy estimate; entry is flagged proxy_only: true accordingly. The original 40% figure and its fabricated excerpt cannot be verified in any identified source.
Source date: 2023-11-09 · Accessed: 2026-05-14