Clinicians are more likely to discuss reproductive risks with female patients than male patients before starting chemotherapy, a new study shows.
The study, published in JAMA Network Open, gathered data from the American Society of Clinical Oncology Quality Oncology Practice Initiative, a quality assessment program that surveys around 400 oncology practices biannually, from January 2015 to June 2019.
Of 6,976 patients of reproductive age, 3036 (44 percent) received counseling regarding the risk of infertility associated with chemotherapy.
About 56 percent of the 3,405 women in the study were informed of the infertility risks, compared to only 32 percent of 3,571 male study participants.
Researchers also found clinicians were less likely to have the fertility risk discussions with older patients.