Fertility experts at the University of Aberdeen are appealing for couples to share their experiences of using an online tool which calculates their predicted chances of having a baby following IVF treatment.
A survey on the effectiveness of the OPIS (Outcome Prediction in Subfertility) calculator has been added to the OPIS website to encourage those who have used the tool to provide feedback which will help researchers improve the functionality and look of the calculator.
An estimated 4,000 people on average visit the OPIS website each month, with users living all around the world, including the US, Germany, France, Italy and Australia
Since the launch of the survey, the response rate has been relatively low, though the feedback has been largely positive, with some users describing the prediction tool as ‘awesome’.
First launched by the University in 2016, there are currently two OPIS tools. The OPIS Pre IVF calculates your chances of having a baby over one or more complete cycles of IVF treatment from the point before just starting treatment. The OPIS Post IVF updates your chances of having a baby after one or more complete cycles of IVF using additional treatment details from the point of your first fresh embryo transfer.
Used each month by between 3,000 to 5,000 couples who are about to start their first round of IVF treatment, the tools can help couples manage expectations and inform decisions on the number of IVF cycles to have.
The research team, led by Dr David McLernon of the University’s Institute of Applied Health Sciences, is currently updating OPIS to include a tool that can recalculate the predicted chance of having a baby for couples who are starting their second cycle of IVF.
“We recently launched the survey in order to gain some valuable insight into the way in which people are using the current calculator,” he said.
“We know that couples from all over the world are engaging with the tool and we are very interested to hear what they think of it. The survey doesn’t take long to complete and the hope is that it will provide us with information that we can use as we look to update and improve the look and functionality of the current calculator, as well as the new one which is currently being designed.”
If you are about to start IVF treatment please check out OPIS at https://w3.abdn.ac.uk/clsm/opis/ and remember to rate and click on ‘Further feedback’ to complete a survey that will help us improve OPIS.