What is infertility?

Infertility is most simply defined as the inability to achieve conception after a year of unprotected intercourse or the inability to carry a pregnancy to a live birth.

Inability to conceive

Of all cases of infertility, 30% may be attributed to the male and 50% to the female; the remaining 20% is undetermined, usually with both female and male factors involved.

One of the principal causes of increasing rates of infertility in developed countries is the willing postponement of pregnancy due to life style and career choices.. Adverse effects of increasing age on reproductive capacity include decreased conception rates and increased pregnancy losses. The increasing incidence of pelvic inflammatory disease is also thought to be a major cause. Pelvic infections lead to scar formation around the ovaries and the fallopian tubes, thereby impeding the transport of oocytes for fertilization.

Male infertility may be due to developmental defects, genitourinary infections resulting in abnormal semen profiles.

In most cases the cause of the abnormality remains undetermined. In approximately 10% of infertile couples, a thorough evaluation reveals no clear cause, and unexplained infertility is diagnosed.