Skip Navigation

Human Reproduction 2008 23(3):538-542; doi:10.1093/humrep/dem431
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF )
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Maheshwari, A.
Right arrow Articles by Bhattacharya, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Maheshwari, A.
Right arrow Articles by Bhattacharya, S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Effect of female age on the diagnostic categories of infertility

Abha Maheshwari1, Mark Hamilton and Siladitya Bhattacharya

Assisted Reproduction Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Aberdeen Maternity Hospital, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, UK

1 Correspondence address. Tel: +44-1224-553582; Fax: +44-1224-551072; E-mail: abha.maheshwari{at}abdn.ac.uk

BACKGROUND: As more women choose to delay childbearing, increasing numbers of them face age-related fertility problems. We aimed to explore the association between age and diagnosed causes of female infertility.

METHODS: Anonymized data (age of male and female partner, year of first visit, diagnosis, duration and type of infertility) were obtained on all couples attending Aberdeen Fertility Centre from 1993–2006. The prevalence of different causes of infertility was determined for women <35 and ≥35 years of age at the time of their first clinic visit. Binary logistic regression and multinomial regression were used to determine the association between age and diagnostic categories of infertility.

RESULTS: Of a total of 7172 women, 26.9% were over the age of 35 years and 51.4% of the total had primary infertility. The mean female age was 31.2 (5.2 SD) years. There was an association between female age and the cause of female infertility (likelihood ratio, P < 0.001). More women over 35 had unexplained infertility (26.6 versus 21.0%, P < 0.001). Compared with women under 30 years, the adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence intervals, CI) of the following diagnoses in women over 35 were: unexplained infertility = 1.8 (1.4–2.2), ovulatory dysfunction = 0.3 (0.3–0.4) and tubal factor = 2.2 (1.7–2.7).

CONCLUSIONS: The causes of infertility in older women are different from those in younger women. Women over 35 years of age are nearly twice as likely to present with unexplained infertility.

Key words: infertility/diagnosis/advanced reproductive age/unexplained infertility/ovarian ageing

Submitted on August 24, 2007; resubmitted on December 6, 2007; accepted on December 14, 2007.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Hum Reprod UpdateHome page
A. N. Andersen, E. Carlsen, and A. Loft
Trends in the use of intracytoplasmatic sperm injection marked variability between countries
Hum. Reprod. Update, August 16, 2008; (2008) dmn032v1.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.