A community based study to determine the prevalence of infertility and associated socio demographic factors in rural area of Mandya district of Karnataka

Abstract

Background: Infertility is defined as failure to achieve pregnancy after at least 1 year of regular unprotected sexual intercourse. Infertility is classified into two types, primary and secondary infertility. World Health Organization explains primary infertility as inefficiency to conceive after a year of unprotected sex and secondary if not conceived following previous pregnancy. The objective of the study was to find out the prevalence and socio demographic factors of infertility (primary and secondary) among eligible couples in rural area of Mandya district.Methods: A Cross sectional study was conducted at Adichunchanagiri Institute of Medical sciences from the month of June 2016 to September 2016.One of the Primary health center in the study area was randomly selected by lottery method. All the eligible couples who are permanent residents and in the reproductive age group were included in the study.Results: Majority (59.64%) of the study group were in the age group of 20-25 years. Nearly 59.3% and 40.7% of the respondents belonged to joint and nuclear family respectively. The overall prevalence of infertility in our study was 7.7%. The overall prevalence of primary infertility was 6.3% and secondary infertility was 1.4%.Conclusions: As healthcare professionals, we should remember that infertility is a stressful life event for both women and men. Hence by knowing the prevalence and knowledge of the couple regarding the infertility, suitable health education programmes can be done to create awareness among the people regarding the treatment modalities available for infertility.