What's on the mind of IVF consumers?

During economic downturns demographers note that birth rates often decline as couples are more concerned with job security than providing for an additional child. The effects of economic conditions are likely to be amplified in infertile couples because there is often the need to pay for treatment. To try and understand changes in public interest in IVF over time, this study explored publicly available data (Google Insights) that reports changes in internet search activity relative to baseline volumes for search queries entered into Google search engines. Using the USA and the UK as case studies, it was observed that interest in internet searches using the term 'IVF' relative to searches within the infertility category remained relatively unchanged in the USA, with a small decrease observed in the UK. Internet searches using the combined terms 'IVF cost' and 'cost of IVF' have increased over the past 2 years relative to the infertility category. Additionally, inclusion of the term 'cost' appears concentrated in US states without insurance mandates compared with states with mandated insurance coverage. The extent to which Google internet search queries reflect public interest, and more importantly interest from infertile couples, is difficult to know for certain; however, there appears to be increased interest in the cost of treatment.