Risk factors associated with primary and secondary infertility in eastern part of north India: A pilot study

Abstract

Introduction: Infertility is defined as the failure to achieve clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of regularly unprotected sexual intercourse. According to a systematic analysis of National Health Survey-2010, approximately 10.5% of women around the world experienced secondary infertility and roughly 2% experienced primary infertility. Objectives: To analyse the risk factors for infertility in eastern part of North India. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional, analytical pilot study was done from January 2018 to March 2018 as a schedule based survey involving 65 couples with infertility attending Sir Sunderlal hospital, Varanasi, U.P., that primarily caters to patients from eastern part of north India. Sixty valid couples were analysed. Results: Seventy per cent couples resided in eastern U.P. and 60% belonged to middle socioeconomic status. Treatment was sought ? 3 years by 86.7%. Among a total number of 60 females partners in their reproductive age (15-49 years), 31 (51.7%) had primary infertility and 29 (48.3%) had secondary infertility. The age group of 27-38 years comprised of 53.3% females and 65.6% of these had secondary infertility. Those females with regular menstrual cycles had a predominance of primary infertility (70%) and irregular cycles was associated more with secondary infertility (66.7%). Conclusion: Association of primary and secondary infertility was found with age & menstrual irregularity, hence these may be considered as risk factors. BMI and amount of menstrual flow were not significantly associated with either types of infertility and need further evaluation in a larger study. Keywords: Primary infertility, Secondary infertility, Risk factors, North India.