infertility facts

Perhaps you’re not that familiar with infertility, or maybe you’d like to check if you’ve got your facts straight. Whatever your level of knowledge, some background information on infertility can provide context and help you delve deeper into the issues surrounding infertility.

Infertility is a medical condition that results when you, your partner or both of you have a physical condition that interferes with the reproductive process. Infertility is defined as 12 months of unsuccessful conception for women under 35. For women over 35, this decreases to six months of unsuccessful conception.

When faced with the prospect of infertility, emotions can run high. But it’s important to remember that no one should be blamed for infertility – it’s not “his” or “her” fault.

who is affected by infertility

• Infertility affects approximately 6.1 million women aged 15 to 44 in the U.S., or 2.1 million couples, which represents about 10% to 20% of the reproductive-age population.¹
• Infertility affects both men and women. Female infertility accounts for approximately one-third of cases, and male infertility accounts for about another third of cases. The remaining one-third of infertility cases are cause by a mix of male and female factors, or by unknown factors.²
• Infertility is not associated with any specific race or ethnicity.

causes of infertility

• Although many women get pregnant after 30, a woman is most fertile in her mid-20s. Fertility declines as a woman ages and then drops rapidly as she enters her mid- to late-30s.
• The most common cause of infertility in women is an ovulatory disorder, a type of hormonal imbalance.
• Women with irregular menstrual cycles, which suggest a problem with ovulation, can consider evaluation and infertility treatment as soon as this problem is identified.
• For men, fertility decreases slowly until around 40 years of age and then begins to decrease more rapidly.
• The most common reasons for male infertility are also hormonal imbalances, including abnormalities in sperm count, motility and/or shape.
• About 10% of infertility problems remain unexplained even after a couple undergoes complete medical evaluations.

today’s treatment options

• Most cases of infertility are treated with conventional medical therapies such as fertility drugs or surgery, although newer techniques, such as ovarian stimulation followed by in vitro fertilization (IVF), can increase the chances of success by 40% overall.
• Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) include in vitro fertilization and similiar procedures
• Although ART is extremely helpful for some couples when conventional therapies fail, these procedures only account for less than 5% of infertility services and represent only 0.003% of United States healthcare costs.
• IVF was first introduced in the United States in 1981. Since then, more than 114,000 American babies have been born through IVF and ART.
• According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2006 138,198 ART cycles were reported, resulting in 41,343 deliveries (of one or more living infants) and 54,656 infants born (individual live infants born).³

• Another available option for some couples – especially those for which male infertility is the issue – is a technique called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Rather than just mixing the eggs and sperm together in the petri dish, which is normally done in IVF, ICSI involves capturing a single sperm and injecting it directly into the egg. The use of ICSI has dramatically improved fertilization rates in cases with low sperm count, motility or poor sperm function. First described in 1992, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine declared in 1995 that ICSI was an accepted treatment for infertility treatment.