Infertility
INFERTILITY IS A GROWING PROBLEM IN BOTH WOMEN AND MEN. THE CAUSES CAN BE MANY, FROM LIFESTYLE TO ADVANCED AGE, TO INFECTIONS NOT CURED TIMELY. ASSISTED FERTILIZATION COMES IN HELP, BUT IT WOULD BE BETTER TO ACT PREVENTIVELY.
Your life is made up of going out, dinners with friends, holidays and work. All of a sudden that disruptive natural, instinctive, physiological, biological desire bursts out of control: it is the desire for motherhood. Then nothing else matters. So at first 'precautions are not taken', then 'days x' begin to be calculated. But if the months go by and the good news doesn't arrive, a feeling of sadness, disillusionment, incompleteness pervades the days. Luckily medicine has made great strides both in investigating the causes of infertility and in intervening to make the dream of having a child come true.
What factors can affect female infertility?
Hormonal problems:
■ altered hormone levels, due to weight changes, stress, excessive physical activity and illnesses;
■ polycystic ovary;
■ short luteal phase (any fertilized egg is expelled before it can take root in the uterine mucosa, preventing the pregnancy from progressing);
■ early menopause.
Fallopian tube problems:
A blocked fallopian tube can prevent sperm from reaching the egg cell:
■ one of the most frequent causes is an untreated chlamydial infection (often asymptomatic);
■ uterine fibroids can block the fallopian tubes or hinder the implantation of a fertilized egg cell;
■ endometriosis can block the fallopian tubes and prevent fertilisation.
Not of secondary importance, vaginal dryness: this condition can lead to the use of lubricants harmful to sperm.
The infertility of man
■ Insufficient sperm quantity or quality;
■ erectile dysfunction;
■ other causes: genetic factors, hormonal problems or other rarer conditions.
An adequate lifestyle could contribute to the reduction of problems related to infertility. Excess alcohol, smoking, drug use are behaviors that could negatively affect both the conception and the fact of carrying the pregnancy to term. Weight is another factor to consider, as being underweight or overweight alters the menstrual cycle. Age is more than ever an element to take into account today, considering the widespread tendency among Italians to look for a child over 35 years of age. Every woman is born with enough egg cells for a lifetime, but this amount gradually decreases over time. After the age of 38-40, this reduction becomes more acute, and the quality of the egg cells also deteriorates. It is believed that even in humans the possibility of conception decreases from about 40 years of age. Once you become aware of these aspects, reflecting on your own behavior, medicine can help. The assisted procreation centers are available to evaluate individual cases, but it is good to be aware that these techniques, even if cutting-edge, are not able to solve every type of sterility.
FERTILITY PROBLEMS ARE DUE TO APPROXIMATELY ONE THIRD OF CASES TO FEMALE PROBLEMS, ONE THIRD TO MALE PROBLEMS AND IN THE REMAINING CASES TO COMPATIBILITY PROBLEMS OR A COMBINATION OF THESE FACTORS.
The numbers of 2013*
*Latest data available
■ 1.39 children per woman (509,000 births in 2014,
5 thousand less than in 2013, the minimum level
from the unification of Italy).
■ Average age at delivery: 31.5 years.
■ Births after the age of 40: 4.6% (twice as much as in France,
England, Holland, Spain).
In Italy there are 369 authorized centers specialized in assisted procreation, with 91,556 treatment cycles started on 71,741 couples, 15,550 pregnancies obtained, 13,770 pregnancies monitored, 10,350 deliveries obtained with 120,187 live births representing 2.4% of all births in the peninsula in 2013.
