Statistics on Infertility

Infertility is a horrible battle for many couples and according to statistics, the number of couples that are fighting that battle continue to rise. For medical and insurance purposes, infertility is generally defined as the inability to become pregnant after trying for twelve months. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), in 2002 1.2 million of the 62 million women that were of reproductive age had medical appointments related to infertility related medical issues with the previous twelve months. That figures out to about 2 percent of reproductive age women. In addition to that, 8 percent had infertility related medical appointments at some time in the past. These infertility services included diagnostic tests to determine infertility, medical consultation and treatments to assist women in becoming pregnant, and other non-routine services to prevent miscarriage.

Contrary to popular belief, infertility is not just a woman's condition. A CDC study analyzed information from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. This study found that a 7.5% of all sexually experienced men reported a visit for assistance with having a child at some time during their life. This equals 3.3 to 4.7 million men. 18.1% of men who sought help were diagnosed with a male-related infertility problem. These infertility problems included sperm or semen problems 13.7 percent of the time and varicocele 5.9 percent of the time. Two million couples also reported that they had not conceived in the previous 12 months in spite of trying. Infertility affects approximately 7.3 million women and their partners in the U.S. that equates to about 12 percent of the reproductive age population.

What Are the Possible Causes of Infertility?

While the CDC does not have firm numbers for many of the suspected causes of infertility, the list continues to grow.

• Tubal infertility affects 18% of the couples who try use assisted reproductive technology (ART) to try to overcome infertility. This is typically the result of chronic pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and can lead to tubal scarring. Tubal scarring can be prevented by early detection and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, especially chlamydia infection. Over1 million chlamydia cases are reported to the CDC each year.
• The percentage of male factor infertility due to varicocele is not known. However, this condition is reported in approximately fifty percent of the inpatient surgery services and about two thirds of office visits for male factor infertility in the United States.
• Environmental and occupational hazards account for an unknown amount of infertility. These hazards are suspected causes of declining human sperm quality in industrialized countries. About 84,000 chemicals are in the workplace; statistics say 2,000 new chemicals every year. However, information on reproductive toxicity is only available for a few thousand.

While these statistics alone are staggering it is only a few of the potential causes of infertility. Smoking, obesity, and medical conditions such also figure into the statistics.