Infertility in Shanghai: prevalence, treatment seeking and impact.
To assess the level of treatment seeking and impact on marriage of infertility among newly married couples of Shanghai, China, a total of 7872 newly married couples, enrolled between 1987 and 1988, were followed-up for 5 years. The prevalence of infertility (no fertile conception after 24 months of unprotected intercourse) was found to be 5.1%. Couples' age at marriage, education, prior induced abortion, miscarriage, use of IUD or hormonal contraceptives and medical problems of both partners were associated significantly with infertility. About 57% of infertile couples sought infertility treatment and subsequently had a higher probability of childbirth (42%) than non-seekers (28%). Husband's education, induced abortion and both partner's previous medical problems were associated significantly with infertility treatment seeking. Moreover, infertile couples were 2.2 times more likely to divorce than their counterparts (95% CI 1.52-3.18). We conclude that infertility in Shanghai is modest, but a substantial number of infertile couples would not like to seek infertility treatment. Further research is needed on this subject.
Che
Y
Y
Shanghai Institute of Planned Parenthood Research, Shanghai, China.
Cleland
J
J
D000328:Adult; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007246:Infertility / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence