Infertility in American college alumnae

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this paper is to present data on prevalence of infertility, causes and treatments based on self-reports of a sample of American college alumnae.

Methods: A sample of 3940 American college alumnae, ages 37 to over 70 years, completed a self-administered questionnaire relating to infertility, its causes, treatment and treatment outcomes.

Results: Of the entire sample (n=3940), 3.1% (n=121) had primary infertility; 14.0% (n=548) had secondary infertility and were treated; 4.7% (n=184) tried for more than 1 year without success but had pregnancies without treatment; and 62.4% had no problems with infertility; and 16% (n=616) did not try to get pregnant. The major causes were 'unexplained infertility' reported by 43.5%; low sperm count or low motility, 21.4%; and anovulatory cycles, 20.3%. Treatment by clomid was reported by 39.5%. The overall success rate, resulting from treatment was 45%. The highest success rate occurred when anovulatory cycles were treated with clomid.

Conclusion: Prevalence of primary and secondary infertility in this sample of American women is approximately 17%, similar to that observed for Sub-Saharan Africa.