Main findings
In this retrospective cohort study of 41546 women undergoing IVF with embryo transfer, we showed that live birth was not significantly different in women with different educational levels.
Higher educational level has been found to be related to lower incidence and prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, and chronic respiratory diseases [8]. The higher educational level also leads to better use of health care services [9], more disease prevention in terms of screening for sexually transmitted disease [10], and a lower risk of low 5-min Apgar score [11]. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between maternal educational level and live birth after IVF.
In general, women with higher education are more likely to be involved in healthy behavior such as regular exercise, a healthy diet, and regular check-up. Maternal educational level has been shown to be a strong predictor of seeking medical help with infertility [12]. As shown in this study, women with higher educational levels were more likely to be thinner. At the same time, our findings showed that women with less education were older, have longer infertility duration.
Education is a vital determinant of fertility behavior and outcomes. The IVF treatment process is extremely complicated and requires efficient coordination of multiple links [13]. Women with higher educational levels have a higher chance of avoiding mistakes in the IVF process. There have been several studies that have examined the association between maternal educational level and fertility. Previous data from the demographic and health surveys confirms that higher education is associated with lower fertility [14]. The reason for reduced fertility is usually owned to birth postponement and the high opportunity cost of childbearing. More-educated women tend to marry later, have a week orientation towards having families [15]. However, poor fertility knowledge is a contributory factor to many couples not achieving their goal of parenthood [16]. Less-educated women may be left ill-equipped to make informed choices about their reproductive lives and relationships [17]. In addition, women with higher levels of education have lower rates of depressive symptoms in IVF treatment [18]. This may offset the detrimental effect of postponing parenthood.