Primary infertility: characteristics of women in North America according to pathological findings.

Valerie Beral, V Beral, R Rolfs, Robert T. Rolfs, M R Joesoef, S Aral, Sevgi O. Aral, Daniel W. Cramer, D W Cramer
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health · 1994 · vol. 48(6) , pp. 576–579 · doi:10.1136/jech.48.6.576 · PMID:7830012 · PMC1060035 · W2166321261
article OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 6 in-corpus citations
📄 Open PDF View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This study analyzed women with primary infertility in North America, finding that tubal obstruction was associated with more sexual partners and substance use, while polycystic ovarian disease was linked to obesity and fewer sexual partners.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine, in women with primary infertility, whether specific characteristics or behavioural factors are associated with the various pathological conditions identified as contributing to the infertility. DESIGN: Case-control study. SETTING: Seven institutions in the USA or Canada. PARTICIPANTS: Study subjects were 1750 women who presented with primary infertility, among whom the main pathological cause of infertility was male factor (417), tubal obstruction (231), endometriosis (194), luteal phase defects (153), other ovulatory problems (193), cervical abnormalities (92), and polycystic ovarian disease (84) and 1765 control women who delivered their first child at the same institution. MAIN RESULTS: Except for tubal obstruction and polycystic ovarian disease, the characteristics and behaviours of the women with infertility did not differ appreciably according to the pathological conditions recorded. Women with tubal obstruction had had more sexual partners, an earlier age at first intercourse, were more likely to have used an intrauterine device but less likely to have used a condom, and were more likely to have smoked cigarettes and to have used various recreational drugs than the other women. Women with polycystic ovarian disease were more obese, had had fewer sexual partners, and were less likely to have used cigarettes, contraceptives, and recreational drugs than the other women. CONCLUSIONS: Sexually transmitted infections seem to increase the risk of tubal obstruction but not other causes of infertility. Obesity is associated with polycystic ovarian disease. These data offer few clues to the aetiology of infertility attributed to endometriosis, cervical abnormalities, luteal phase defects, other ovulatory defects, or to male factors.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Infertility, Female Age Factors Canada Canada Case-Control Studies Educational Status Female Genital Diseases, Female Genital Diseases, Female Humans Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Sexually Transmitted Diseases Sexually Transmitted Diseases Sexual Partners United States United States

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (10)

Cited by (6)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-11T06:19:48.454388+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-04T00:00:01.174412+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:11:18.900538+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK