Infertility is neither an inconvenience nor a sexual problem. Infertility is a medical condition that results in the body's inability to perform the basic function of reproduction. No one can be blamed for infertility.

FACTS EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW

	Infertility affects approximately 6.1 million couples in the US, or about ten percent of the reproductive-age population. Some published estimates indicate that as many as 10 million couples may suffer from infertility problems worldwide.
	Infertility affects men and women almost equally. Infertility is identified as a male problem in about 40 percent of cases, and is a female concern in another 35 to 40 percent.
	Approximately 25 percent of cases result from a combination of problems of both partners. About 20 percent of infertility problems remain unexplained after complete medical evaluations.

A CONDITION ON THE RISE

	Today, more than 50,000 American couples undergo assisted reproduction procedures, more than double the number undergone in 1989.
	A woman is most fertile in her mid-twenties. Her fertility declines until she reaches 30 and then drops rapidly. 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 include azoospermia (no sperm cells are produced) and oligospermia (few sperm cells are produced). The most common female infertility factor is an ovulation disorder.
	While extremely vital for some patients when conventional therapies fail, in vitro fertilization IVF and similar treatments still account for less than five percent of infertility services and represent only three hundredths of one percent (.003%) of US healthcare costs.

TODAY’S TREATMENT OPTIONS

	Most cases of infertility are treated with conventional medical therapies such as medication or surgery, although newer techniques, such as ovarian stimulation followed by IVF, can increase the chances of success by 40 percent overall.
	IVF was first introduced in the US in 1981. Since then, more than 45,000 American babies have been born through IVF and 70,000 have been born from all assisted reproductive technologies. The average live delivery rate for IVF in 1995 was 22.3 percent. This figure is only about 20 percent less than the chance that a perfectly healthy couple has of achieving pregnancy and carrying a fetus to term.
	Advances in IVF have resulted in top centers achieving pregnancy rates exceeding 50 percent. Another available option for couples is called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). This reproductive technique involves capturing a single sperm and injecting it directly into the egg, a procedure that was first described in 1992. In 1995, the Society for Reproductive Medicine declared that ICSI was an accepted treatment for infertility.

Source: American Society for Reproductive Medicine, 1998

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