The Polish women's experience and level of knowledge about fertility and its disorders - a cross-sectional study

To assess the experience and knowledge of Polish women up to 50 years of age about fertility and its disorders. A self-composed questionnaire consisting of 44 questions, divided into six sections, was available in social media from January until February 2020. The answers to 13 single-choice questions were analyzed to assess the level of knowledge. Statistical analysis was performed with the use of Statistica 13.0, with p value < 0.05 considered significant. A total of 3,321 correctly filled out questionnaires were obtained. The average result was 8.88 out of 13 single- choice questions regarding the basics of the menstrual cycle and infertility (median 9, standard deviation [SD] 2.21). As many as 65.2% of respondents did not know which days in the cycle were fertile days. The women who had been and/or were pregnant at the time of survey, more often answered better than those, who had never given birth. They had a better mean score of 13 single-choice questions compared to those who had never been pregnant (9.02 vs 8.61, p < 0.001). Respondents who obtained information about infertility from doctors in 86.97% knew that regular intercourse meant 2-3 times per week in comparison to 79.7% of those who were not educated by medical practitioners (p < 0.0001). 69.8% respondents from the first group knew that the test of ovarian reserve existed in comparison to 55.63% of women from the second group (p < 0.0001). The research has shown that the knowledge about fertility and its disorders is not satisfying among Polish women.