Before a couple is characterized as ‘infertile’, we should bear in mind that even if this couple has sexual contacts during the woman’s fertile days there is no guarantee that a pregnancy will be achieved during the first month of efforts. Several statistics have proved that, either by a wrong calculation of the fertile days or by unforeseen deviations in ovulation day or even by a simple failure of the fertilization procedure, the possibility of achieving a pregnancy by month of effort reaches no further from a 25%. This possibility rises to 57% after 3 months, to 72% after 6 months, and to 85-90% after 12 months of trying. The above observation reveals that even a several months’ delay in achieving pregnancy could be purely ‘innocent’.

The above observation reveals that even a several months’
delay in achieving pregnancy could be purely ‘innocent’.

According to the World Health Organization, a couple can be characterized as ‘infertile’ when has failed to achieve pregnancy after a 12-month period of systematic efforts. It should be noted, however, that there are cases of couples where the presence of certain indications imposes them to seek medical advice by a gynecologist earlier than the 12-month period. The most important of these indications are for the woman: intense menstrual cycle disorders (very short or very long cycles), persistent deep pelvic pain during sexual intercourse, extremities in body weight, various endocrinological disorders (as thyroid gland disorders, diabetes, etc), intense hirsutism (that is, the ‘male’ type body hair distribution), history of severe tubal infections, long-term intake of drugs, and finally an age over 38; such indications for the man are: history of surgical operations, injuries or inflammations in the genitalia, exposure to toxic agents in the working environment, long-term intake of drugs, alcoholism, and certain rare other factors.

Fertility problems are quite common nowadays. It is estimated that a 12-15% of all couples in reproductive age are facing fertility problems. This rate tends to increase along with the woman’s age, as this represents an independent factor that affects the conception chances. Thus, while the infertility rate among women aged 30-35 is 15%, it rises to 31% at the age of 35-40 and beyond 60% for women aged over 40, reflecting in this way the impact of ageing processes on the oocyte quality as well as on the ovarian function. There is a comparable impact of the male’s age on the conception chances but this becomes significant at much advanced ages.