Infertility

Infertility is defined as the inability of a sexually active, noncontracepting couple to achieve pregnancy in one year, the time to which about 90% of couples succeed. Among couples of reproductive age, about 10% are infertile. Delayed marriage and childbirth is one of the main social factors that has resulted in increased infertility in society. Furthermore, sexually transmitted diseases still are the major cause of infertility in Western countries. Causes of Infertility The most common causes of infertility are: tubal disease, male disorders, lack of ovulation (anovulation), and abnormality of uterine tissue (endometriosis). The initial evaluation of infertility requires complete history of medical and surgical problems, a genetic history, a history of any sexually transmitted diseases, family history of early menopause, medication used, and allergies. Specific attention should be placed on details of potential occupational exposure to toxins as well as recreational drugs, smoking,... Access this chapter Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout Purchases are for personal use only Suggested Reading Clark, A. M., Thornley, B., Tomlinson, L., Galletley, C., & Norman, R. J. (1998). Weight loss in obese infertile women results in improvement in reproductive outcome for all forms of fertility treatment. Human Reproduction, 13, 1502–1505. Falcone, T., Goldberg, J. M., & Miller, K. F. (1996). Endometriosis: Medical and surgical intervention. Current Opinion in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 8, 178–183. Hatch, E. E., & Bracken, M. B. (1993). Association of delayed conception with caffeine consumption. American Journal of Epidemiology, 138, 1082–1092. Legro, R. S., Finegood, D., & Dunaif, A. (1998). A fasting glucose to insulin ratio is a useful measure of insulin sensitivity in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 83, 2694–2698. Pagidas, K., Falcone, T., Hemmings, R., & Miron, R. (1996). Comparison of surgical treatment of moderate (stage iii) and severe (stage iv) endometriosis-related infertility with IVF_ET. Fertility and Sterility, 65, 791–795. Rowe, P., Comhaire, F., Hargreave, T. B., & Mahmoud, A. M. (Eds.). (2000). WHO manual for the standardized investigation, diagnosis and management of the infertile male. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Sharara, F. L., Scott, R. T., Jr., & Seifer, D. B. (1998). The detection of diminished ovarian reserve in infertile women. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 179, 804–812. Rights and permissions Copyright information © 2004 Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers About this entry Cite this entry Faloone, T., Sharma, R. (2004). Infertility. In: Encyclopedia of Women’s Health. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48113-0_216 Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48113-0_216 Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA Print ISBN: 978-0-306-48073-7 Online ISBN: 978-0-306-48113-0 eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive Keywords - Chlamydia Trachomatis - Pelvic Inflammatory Disease - Male Infertility - Premature Ovarian Failure - Tubal Disease These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.