Current Fertility Knowledge of Senior High School Students, Infertile Patients, and Medical Staff at an Infertility Clinic in Japan

Abstract

Background: In a survey on fertility knowledge published in 2013 (Cardiff Fertility Knowledge Scale [CFKS]), Japan ranked 78th among 79 countries. This finding encouraged the Japanese government to revise the curriculum for sex education in 2015. The present study was conducted to assess the current fertility knowledge of senior high school students, infertile patients, and medical staff at an infertility clinic in Japan. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 899 senior high school students (average age 16.8 years), 461 infertile female patients (36.9 years), and 127 medical staff at our infertility clinic (33.1 years) was performed between July 2020 and January 2021. The questionnaire included 13 items from CFKS and our 12 original items on fertility and infertility treatments. Results: The positive response rates of senior high school students, infertile female patients, and medical staff were 69.4, 86.9, and 86.5% for CFKS, respectively, and were similar for all 25 items. The positive response rate was higher in all three groups than in the surveys conducted in 2013 (36.0%) and 2015 (44.4%) in Japan. Conclusions: Although sex education may have improved these scores, other resources (media and social media) may also be responsible for this increase.