causes of primary infertility

  

    Infertility is defined as the inability to get or stay pregnant after a year of trying. Women 35 years or more are considered infertile after only six months of trying to get pregnant. About 10% of women in the United States between the ages of 15 and 44 have difficulty getting pregnant, according to the CDC. Contrary to popular belief, infertility is not always the problem of a woman, either. Only a third of the causes of infertility are caused by a problem with women, while the same amount is due to male infertility. The remaining causes of infertility is caused by a mixture of male and female problems or unknown problems.

   Pregnancy is actually a complicated process and problems can occur at any stage. For pregnancy to occur the woman should ovulate, the release of a healthy egg from her ovaries. The egg must travel through the fallopian tube and be joined by sperm that moves to the uterus. The fertilized egg or embryo must also attach correctly inside the womb. Infertility can occur if there is a problem with one of these steps.

   Male infertility is usually due to poor sperm quality. The poor sperm quality refers to low sperm count and are inappropriately or have traffic problems. Genetics may also play a role in male infertility as a disease such as cystic fibrosis causes infertility. Some men have a problem called varicocele. This is when the veins in the testicles are too large, the heating of the testes and affect the shape or the number of sperm produced.

   Female infertility has a wide range of causes, but most are related to ovulation. Ovulation is actually an egg to be present for fertilization in the first place, so maybe this is one of the first things a doctor will review.  

   Many ovulation problems are created by the polycystic ovarian syndrome, a hormonal imbalance that prevents ovulation. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, or PCOS, is the most common cause of primary infertility in women. Another problem that can interfere with ovulation is the primary ovarian failure, which occurs when the ovaries stop working normally before 40 years.

  Other causes of female infertility include physical problems with the uterus and uterine fibroids, which are accumulations of non-cancerous tissue in the uterus. Blocked fallopian tubes can also be the culprit, a condition that can result from endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease or surgery for a previous ectopic pregnancy.