Infertility - Current Scenario

Trends in infertility are difficult to determine or to interpret for several reasons. Infertility among working women is on rise. Women today are more goal oriented and independent. They don’t want to get married early in life or have their baby soon. Moreover, long hours of work and stress often lead to infertility. Perhaps most important, many couples now choose to delay childbearing for a number of years after reaching reproductive maturity. It is now generally agreed that sperm counts below 20 million/ml are quite likely to be associated with reduced fertility and many of the studies showed an increased number of men whose counts fell below that threshold. In a summary position paper, the Practice Committee of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine has said it considers ICSI safe and effective therapy for male factor infertility, but may carry an increased risk for the transmission of selected genetic abnormalities to offspring, either through the procedure itself or through the increased inherent risk of such abnormalities in parents undergoing the procedure. Keywords: Infertility, Endometriosis, PCOS, ICSI, IVF, Assisted Reproduction.