Seven things you should know about infertility

For one in eight couples, giving birth is a dream that’s out of reach without the help of medical intervention.

More than seven million women in the United States seek treatment annually for infertility, a reproductive condition that refers to couples that have not become pregnant after at least one year of unprotected sex.

For couples who are concerned about their fertility or have been recently been diagnosed with infertility, UF Health physicians Dr. R. Stan Williams, UF department chairman of obstetrics and gynecology and infertility professor, and Dr. Gregory Christman, director of the division of reproductive endocrinology & infertility program at UF, share seven infertility facts all patients should know.

7 Infertility Facts All Patients Should Know

1. Women begin losing their fertility after age 30. This process accelerates after age 35, and by their early forties, many women can no longer conceive without the use of donor eggs.
2. About 25 percent of infertile couples have more than one factor that has contributed to their infertility.
3. Male factor infertility affects approximately 40 percent of infertile couples.
4. Approximately 85 to 90 percent of infertility cases are treated with drug therapy or surgical procedures. Fewer than 3 percent need advanced reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization.
5. A couple between 29 and 33 years old with no reproductive issues has only a 20 to 25 percent chance of conceiving in any given month.
6. Infertility can’t be “cured” by relaxation or stress management. Stress couples feel while dealing with this condition is not the cause of infertility, but is a result of it.
7. Letrozole, a drug originally developed to prevented recurring breast cancer, has been found to be 30 percent more effective in helping women become pregnant than clomid, a drug that has been used for more than 40 years.

What questions do you have about infertility? Share your thoughts with us by tweeting @UFHealth, visiting the UF Health Facebook, or requesting an appointment with an infertility specialist at UF Health.