Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Utilization of Infertility Services: A Focus on American Indian/Alaska Natives

Objectives Previous studies have identified racial/ethnic disparities in infertility care, but patterns among American Indian/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) have not been reported. Our objective was to evaluate infertility services use in the US by race/ethnicity using data from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). Methods We analyzed female respondent data from the pooled NSFG cycles 2002, 2006-2010 and 2011-2013. Respondents reported use of infertility services and types of services. We calculated weighted crude and adjusted prevalence proportion ratios (PPR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) using modified Poisson regression with robust error variances accounting for the complex survey design to compare infertility services use across race/ethnicities. Results Overall, 8.7% of women reported using medical services to get pregnant. The prevalence of using any medical service to help get pregnant was lower for American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) (PPR: 0.60, 95% CI 0.43-0.83) and black (PPR: 0.53, 95% CI 0.44-0.63) compared to white women and in Hispanic compared to non-Hispanic women (PPR: 0.57, 95% CI 0.48-0.67). The prevalence of accessing treatment, testing, and advice also differed by race and ethnicity. Conclusions for Practice We observed disparities in accessing services to get pregnant among AI/AN and black women and reduced use of advice among Asian/Pacific Islanders compared to whites. We also observed reduced service utilization for Hispanic compared to non-Hispanic women. Differential utilization of specific services suggests barriers to infertility care may contribute to reproductive health disparities among underserved populations.