1. Infertility affects 6.1 million American women and their partners — about 10 percent of the reproductive age population.

2. Infertility is a disease that affects the male or female reproductive system with almost equal frequency.

3. Recent improvements in medication, microsurgery and in vitro fertilization (IVF) techniques make pregnancy possible for more than half of the couples pursuing treatment.

4. Twenty-five percent of infertile couples have more than one factor that contributes to their infertility.

5. In approximately 40 percent of infertile couples, the male partner is either the sole cause or a contributing cause of infertility.

6. Fallopian tube blockage and/or peritoneal factors (abdominal wall) account for approximately 35 percent of all female infertility problems.

7. Irregular or abnormal ovulation accounts for approximately 25 percent of all female infertility cases.

8. Endometriosis is found in about 35 percent of infertile women who have laparoscopy as part of their infertility assessment.

9. Approximately 30 percent of couples who have a complete assessment are diagnosed with unexplained infertility because no specific cause is identified.

10. More than 70,000 babies have been born in the U.S. as a result of all assisted reproductive technologies, including 45,000 as a result of in vitro fertilization.

Copyright 2003
National Women's Health Resource Center Inc. (NWHRC).