MyFertilityGuide

According to the World Health Organization, infertility is a common issue worldwide: more than 80 million people around the world are unable to produce children or carry a pregnancy to term. As common as it is, there is a stigma in some cultures against childless couples and especially infertile women, which means that a number of questions about infertility go unasked and unanswered.

What is Female Infertility?

Female infertility is defined as the inability to conceive despite six months to a year of regular sexual activity without contraception or the inability to carry a pregnancy to term.

What Causes Female Infertility?

There are a number of possible causes for female infertility. The most common include any one or combination of the following:

• Ovulatory failure
• Fallopian tube blockage
• Endometriosis
• Ovarian or uterine fibroids

Ovulation issues comprise the most often cited reason for female infertility. Some less common factors include:

• STDs including Chlamydia and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)
• Previous miscarriages
• Surgery for an ectopic pregnancy, abortion or ovarian or uterine fibroid cysts

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.

What are Signs of Female Infertility?

Problems ovulating, one of the most common signs of infertility, may manifest as irregular or frequently missed periods but there are other clues that may signify that infertility is a factor for a woman trying to conceive are emotional and environmental. High stress, for example, can hinder a woman’s ability to conceive as does a poor diet, an unhealthy weight—either higher or lower than recommended. Excessive alcohol or drug use including smoking of tobacco or continual exposure to secondhand smoke can also hinder fertility, especially if other factors are at play as well. Also, women over the age of 35 have a lower chance of conceiving than younger women as do women undergoing intense athletic training.

Is Female Infertility Treatable?

According to the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an average of 12 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 44 has difficulty conceiving or holding a pregnancy each year. That’s more than 7 million women. In response, the medical community has a number of tests to determine if infertility is the obstacle to conception in whole or in part as well as a number of treatments and alternative reproductive options, which have proven overwhelmingly successful. Medical science and fertility research continually stride forward and new reproductive options are available every year, providing women with infertility issues a number of paths to motherhood.