If You're Suffering From Infertility, The News is Good

Good news!  Infertility rates in this country are dropping!  They've gone from almost 9 percent of women in 1982 to 6 percent of women now. But fertility treatments have also doubled, according to the CDC.

According to cbsnews.com, the CDC report found that "6 percent of married women aged 15 to 44, about 1.5 million women, were considered infertile at some point from 2006 through 2010."  But, that's down from 8.5 percent of women (2.4 million) in 1982.


"When you look at this downward trend, it goes against the popular wisdom of people we all know," report author Anjani Chandra, a health scientist at the National Center for Health Statistics, told USA Today, as noted by cbsnews.com.

Age is thought to play a large role in infertility. Among married women without children, 25 percent of those aged 35 to 39 were infertile, as were 30 percent of those 40 to 44 years old. That's compared with between 7.3 percent and 9.1 percent of women under 34 years of age.

Age certainly played a factor in my life. After two unsuccessful pregnancies, I gave birth to my son at 47.  (Yes, although I look pretty good for my age, people do ask if he's my grandson!)  Of course, that's not the way to go for everyone but I wasn't going to stop until I had my baby.

Men are part of the picture, too. About 9 percent of men aged 15 through 44 had some form of infertility or non-surgical sterility during 2006 to 2010. There was no overall change in their fertility rates from 2002 through 2006 to 2010, the CDC report says.


"The level of infertility is being counteracted by their pursuit of medical help to have a child," Chandra told usatoday.com. "Both together are bringing down the percentage we see as infertile when we do our survey."










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