Every year, a great number of couples marry in both big cities and rural locations. At least 97 percent of these couples desire to start a family, but the fact is that it doesn’t always happen that way.
According to a Mayo Clinic article, a large proportion of couples fail to conceive, and between 10% to 15% of married couples in the USA are infertile. When a couple seems unable to conceive after around a year of regular unprotected sex, they are said to be infertile.
When a situation like this arises, many societies throw the burden on women since they’re the ones who get to carry the foetus, but this doesn’t seem fair considering that a woman’s failure to get conceived could be due to her own fault or that of her partner. Among other words, there is prevalence of infertility in both men and women.
According to another article which was published in Medical News Today, roughly 10% of women in the United States between the ages of 15 and 44 years have difficulty conceiving or staying pregnant, and about 8% to 12% of couples worldwide have fertility issues.
What Are the Important Factors That Contribute to Inability to get Pregnant ?
Male Causes of Infertility:
The following are some of the most common reasons for a man’s inability to conceive a child:
- Genetic disorders and undescended testis (cryptorchidism) can cause abnormal sperm production and function. Other health issues such as gonorrhoea, cancer, infection of testis, mumps, & diabetes can also cause this.
- Low sperm count– the testis discharges semen which contains millions of sperm with each ejaculation. Fertilization of the female egg, or ova, necessitates a huge number of sperm. It is known as a low sperm count when it falls below 15 million, which might lead to infertility.
- Sperm cells with an abnormal shape– Sperm cells have a specific shape, and when that shape is unusual, it makes it very difficult for them to migrate towards the egg.
- Low sperm motility– sperm cells with low motility are unable to properly travel to meet the egg. As a result, fertilisation is unlikely.
- Sexual difficulties such as premature ejaculation, structural flaws such as testicular obstruction, other genetic illnesses such as cystic fibrosis, and injuries such as testicular torsion are all underlying reasons of sperm failure to reach the eggs location.
- Ejaculation difficulty occur when the ejaculatory duct is blocked, causing the semen to be ejected into the bladder. Retrograde ejaculation, in which the sperm travels the wrong way and is ejected into the bladder, is a similar situation.
- Exposure to some substances in the environment, such as toxins and radiation, increases the risk of infertility. Constant or recurrent exposure to heat or higher temperatures is also harmful to the testes, as it inhibits the development of sperm cells. The same can be said about smoking and using alcohol. Anti inflammatory medicines and anabolic steroids may have an detrimental effect on male fertility.
Female Causes of Infertility:
Infertility in females involves a variety of reasons :
- Ovulation and hormonal problems are two of the most prevalent and significant reasons of female infertility. It usually causes anomalies in the menstrual cycle as well as in the release of ova from the ovary. It can manifest as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), in which cysts grow in the ovary, or hyperprolactinemia, in which the ovary produces too much prolactin (excess prolactin hormone production stimulates the breast milk production). Thyroid disease, whether hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism, can disrupt the menstrual cycle, resulting in infertility.
- Uterus & Cervix Abnormalities : The uterus is where the foetus originates, develops, and grows, while the cervix is the tunnel or the passage for both the sperm cells and for the baby during child birth . For appropriate foetal growth to occur, the environment in both the sperm cells and the fertilised egg must be favourable. There are other occasions where the cervical opening is aberrant. In this situation, the shape of the uterus is important, and benign tumours (uterine fibroids ) could grow in the uterus, which may block the fallopian tubes and preventing sperm cells from traveling through uterus or interfering with fertilised egg implantation.
- Damage to or obstruction of the fallopian tube—salpingitis, or fallopian tube blockage—can occur as a result of a condition known as pelvic inflammatory disease. Endometriosis or STD (sexually transmitted infection) can cause these conditions.
- Endometriosis is a painful disorder in which endometrial tissues that should only grow inside the uterus grow outside of it. It frequently disrupts the uterus’, ovaries’, and fallopian tubes’ natural functions.
- Early menopause occurs when a woman is 45 years old or older. Menopause can, however, occur earlier in specific circumstances. Early menopause can be caused by a variety of reasons, including immune system disorders, radiation, and hereditary diseases.
- Other medical disorders, such as cancer and cancer therapies, can substantially impact a woman’s fertility. Amenorrhea, or absence of menstruation, is a serious hormonal illness that has a significant risk of producing infertility. Diabetes and autoimmune illnesses like lupus (SLE) can have an impact on fertility.
While the aforementioned reasons are the most common causes of infertility, there are extra risk factors to consider. Risk factors include things like becoming older, smoking, and drinking too much alcohol. Erectile dysfunction is linked to smoking, while poor sperm count and motility are linked to alcohol consumption. In addition, insufficient exercise, being overweight, and being malnourished are all potential risk factors.
