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Introduction.
Most experts define infertility as not being able to get pregnant after at least one year of trying. Women who are able to get pregnant but then have repeat miscarriages are also said to be infertile.
Pregnancy is the result of a complex chain of events.
In order to get pregnant:
A woman must release an egg from one of her ovaries (ovulation).
The egg must go through a fallopian tube toward the uterus (womb).
A man’s sperm must join with (fertilize) the egg along the way.
The fertilized egg must attach to the inside of the uterus (implantation).
Infertility can result from problems that interfere with any of these steps.
What causes infertility in women?
Problems with ovulation account for most cases of infertility in women. Without ovulation, there are no eggs to be fertilized. Some signs that a woman is not ovulating normally include irregular or absent menstrual periods.
Less common causes of fertility problems in women include:-
- blocked fallopian tubes due to pelvic inflammatory disease, endometriosis, or surgery for an ectopic pregnancy
- physical problems with the uterus
- uterine fibroids
What increases the risk of infertility in women?
Many things can affect a woman’s ability to have a baby.
These include:-
- age
- stress
- poor diet
- athletic training
- being overweight or underweight
- tobacco smoking
- alcohol
- sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)
- health problems that cause hormonal changes
How does age affect a woman’s ability to have children?
More and more women are waiting until their 30s and 40s to have children. Actually, about 20 percent of women now have their first child after age 35. So age is an increasingly common cause of fertility problems. About one third of couples in which the woman is over 35 have fertility problems.
Aging decreases a woman’s chances of having a baby in the following ways:-
- The ability of a woman’s ovaries to release eggs ready for fertilization declines with age.
- The health of a woman’s eggs declines with age.
- As a woman ages she is more likely to have health problems that can interfere with fertility.
- As a women ages, her risk of having a miscarriage increases.
What causes infertility in men?
Infertility in men is most often caused by:-
- problems making sperm — producing too few sperm or none at all
- problems with the sperm’s ability to reach the egg and fertilize it — abnormal sperm shape or - structure prevent it from moving correctly
Sometimes a man is born with the problems that affect his sperm. Other times problems start later in life due to illness or injury. For example, cystic fibrosis often causes infertility in men.
What increases the risk of infertility in men?
The number and quality of a man’s sperm can be affected by his overall health and lifestyle.
Some things that may reduce sperm number and/or quality include:-
- alcohol
- drugs
- environmental toxins, including pesticides and lead
- smoking cigarettes
- health problems
- medicines
- radiation treatment and chemotherapy for cancer
- age
View our range of Fertility Tests from Test in Private
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