ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AND INFERTILITYPARTICULAR ASPECTS IN ROMANIA’S POPULATION
Abstract:
Objective: to examine the distribution of causes of infertility in Romania’s population compared with other studied populations. Identifying the differences may suggest exposure to some environmental factors and lifestyle in Romania’s population that can affect natural fertility. Material and methods: data collected from couples attending one of the larger private fertility clinics in Romania- Gynera Fertility Centre. All patients underwent the same diagnostic protocol. The data were compared with similar studies reviewed from electronic libraries (PubMed or Medline) using appropriate key words (causes of infertility, tubal factor, male factor). Results: The study population consisted of 1006 couples who attended the fertility clinic for a 7 year period. Male factor was the most common cause 46,95%, followed by tubal factor 40,44% and oligo/anovulation disorders 21,88%. The man alone was responsible for infertility in 255 couples (35,31%).Combined infertility factors were found in 136 couples (18,83%). The rate of unexplained infertility was of 23,77%. Published literature reported also that the male factor was the most common diagnosis in most of the studies conducted in fertility care centres. The second common cause varies among population: ovulation disorders versus tubal factor. The incidence of unexplained infertility varies between 4,7% and 23,27% mainly dependent on the protocol used to diagnose infertility. Conclusions: The major causes of infertility are population dependent. Most of the study reported that male factor accounts for almost half of the causes of infertility in couples. Our study revealed that in Romania, tubal factor is a very common cause of infertility. This could be explained by the growing numbers of induced abortion as a contraceptive method instead of using other methods to prevent unwanted pregnancies and due to increased incidence of sexually transmitted disease. National health programmes about contraception and sexually transmitted disease could reduce the numbers of infertile couples.
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