Male infertility is a devastating problem that affects many couples worldwide. However, the molecular mechanisms and causes of idiopathic male infertility remain unclear. Circulating cell-free nucleic acids have an important role in human physiology and emerging evidence suggests that they play a role in male infertility. This review summarizes recent results on cell-free and intracellular nucl...

About infertility Infertility is the inability of a couple to get pregnant despite having regular unprotected sex. A couple is regarded as infertile if, after regular sexual intercourse, they have not conceived in two years. It is estimated that one in seven UK couples has difficulty conceiving (HFEA, 2006). Identifiable causes of infertility include: ovulatory disorders in 27% of couples; tuba...

The clinical definition of male infertility is the presence of abnormal semen parameters in the male partner of a couple who have been unable to conceive after 1 year of unprotected intercourse (Dohle 2010). The World Health Organization defines male factor infertility as the presence of one or more abnormalities in the semen analysis, or the presence of inadequate sexual or ejaculatory functio...

BACKGROUND Global, regional, and national estimates of prevalence of and tends in infertility are needed to target prevention and treatment efforts. By applying a consistent algorithm to demographic and reproductive surveys available from developed and developing countries, we estimate infertility prevalence and trends, 1990 to 2010, by country and region. METHODS AND FINDINGS We accessed and...

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to identify the prognostic factors that influence the outcome of ovarian stimulation with intrauterine insemination (IUI) cycles in couples with different infertility etiology. MATERIALS AND METHODS This retrospective study was performed in data of 1348 IUI cycles with ovarian stimulation by clomiphene citrate (CC) and/or gonadotropins in 632 women w...

Several epidemiological studies have demonstrated the relationship between the existence of fibroids and the occurrence of infertility; indeed fibroids have been reported in 25-30% of infertile women and are responsible for them alone to 2 to 3% of infertility cases when no other cause was found. The objective of this study was to investigate the probable association between the presence of a f...

Women and men diagnosed with infertility experience a variety of infertility-related stressors, including changes to their family and social networks, strain on their sexual relationship, and difficulties and unexpected challenges in their relationship. Infertility stress is linked with depression and psychological distress, and can lead to premature dropout from medical treatments and unresolv...

BACKGROUND Infertility affects an estimated 15% of couples globally, amounting to 48.5 million couples. Males are found to be solely responsible for 20-30% of infertility cases and contribute to 50% of cases overall. However, this number does not accurately represent all regions of the world. Indeed, on a global level, there is a lack of accurate statistics on rates of male infertility. Our rep...

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 Cen...

The authors conducted a population-based, case-control study among women aged 35-54 years to assess the influence of infertility and use of ovulation-inducing drugs on ovarian cancer risk. The study was conducted from 1994 to 1998 in three regions (metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, Detroit, Michigan, and Seattle, Washington) and included 378 cases and 1,637 controls. Data were obtained through in-...