In this, our inaugural episode, Jackie and Zoe introduce the podcast and the game of MASH. Once we are all on the same page about the best way to predict the future (circa 2006), Jackie takes us on a journey to learn about the hottest new trend in elective surgeries for women in their 30s: egg freezing. What is it, how does it work, how much does it cost, and why would one do it? For the audience who isn’t on the market, don’t worry: even if you don’t have eggs or don’t want to freeze them, there’s still a lot to learn about capitalism, biology, and health insurance (yay adult things.)
If you are considering freezing your eggs, I strongly recommend the following two resources:
Everything Egg Freezing by Catherine Hendy and Brittany Hawkins
and Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology
Sources for specific statistics and tables mentioned in the episode:
The study that is the source of the graph and two tables shown: Predicting the likelihood of live birth for elective oocyte cryopreservation by Goldman et al 2017
Utilization rate of frozen eggs:
Outcomes of Social Egg Freezing by Kakkar et al 2023
, Planned oocyte cryopreservation by Hirsch et al 2024
, and Planned oocyte cryopreservation-10-15-year follow-up by Blakemore et al 2021
The best age to freeze your eggs: Optimal timing for elective egg freezing by Mesen et al 2015
Comparing IVF vs using previously frozen eggs for a woman who is 40: Baby Budgeting by Devine et al 2015
Likelihood of getting pregnant in a given month, by age (“fecundity”): Age and fecundability in a North American preconception cohort study by Wesselink et al 2017
Origins of infertility; tl;dr approximately ⅓ from female partner, ⅓ from male partner, and ⅓ unexplained or combo of both: Seven out of 10 couples treated by IVF achieve parenthood following either treatment, natural conception or adoption by Troude et al 2017
The earlier you have your first successful pregnancy, the less likely you will be to need Assisted Reproductive Technologies later (note: correlation != causation) The Supply of and Demand for Assisted Reproductive Technologies in the United States by Stephen et al 2017
Long term outcomes of egg freezing Fifteen years of autologous oocyte thaw outcomes from a large university-based fertility center by Cascante et al 2022
IVF rates in the US US IVF usage increases in 2023, leads to over 95,000 babies born | American Society for Reproductive Medicine
The vast majority of women considering egg freezing would be more likely to do so if covered by employer, but it wouldn’t change their timelines Employee benefit or occupational hazard? How employer coverage of egg freezing impacts reproductive decisions of graduate students by Cardozo et al 2020
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