Female Infertility:
Causes and Solutions

Female infertility refers to the inability of the woman to conceive and have a baby and this can happen from the following factors.

Causes of female infertility

1) General factors that include Age: Female fertility starts its downward course from age 27 and then nose dives after 35. The chances of conception decrease by 3% – 5% every year after the age of 30 and much faster after that. From 50 onwards, she reaches menopause which is the concluding chapter of her child-bearing phenomenon.

2) Genetic factors that include several conditions like androgen insensitivity syndrome

3)Hypothalamic- pituitary factors that include Hypothalamic Amenorrhea which indicates the absence of menstruation on account of some measure of disturbance in the thyroid gland and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal system which regulates the process of reproduction in the females.

4)Ovarian factors that include Polycystic ovarian syndrome which causes abnormally low production of FSH or follicle-stimulating hormone as a result of which, the follicles fail to produce a matured egg. And this may make the female infertile. It also includes Anovulation and diminished ovarian reserve. As a mater of fact, women are born with a finite number of eggs or oocytes. So, as the reproductive years go by, the number and the quality of oocytes weaken.

The ovarian factors also include Diminished Ovarian Reserve as the woman advances in age, Premature Menopause when follicles start depleting even before the woman reaches menopausal age and becomes infertile, Menopause when her reproductive structure comes to the end and Luteal dysfunction or Luteal Phase Defect which is responsible for Implantation Failure which can render a woman infertile or barren. Ovarian Cancer invariably makes a woman infertile as well. Some other ovarian factors include Gonadal dysgenesis in the form of Hypogonadotropic hypogonadism in which the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) as well as the lutienizing hormone (LH) is poorly produced, as a result of which functional ovaries fail to develop.

5)Tubal (ectopic) peritoneal factors that include Endometriosis which is a medical condition in which the endometrial (within the womb) cells are deposited outside the uterine cavity. The uterine cavity that is lined by the endometrial cells is influenced by female hormones while those cells outside the uterus also continue to be influenced by the same hormones. Symptoms frequently aggravate with passage of time, leading to female infertility. Reversely, endometriosis is a common finding in women with infertility. Tubal peritoneal factors also include Pelvic Inflammatory Disease that comprise various infections caused by several types of bacteria which affect a woman’s reproductive organs, appendix and part of the intestine that are to be found in the pelvic area. However, when it involves the fallopian tubes, it gets blocked, halting the passage of the egg to the uterus, thus turning the woman unfertile. Clinically known as Salpingitis, it is a major cause of infertility in women. Pelvic Inflammatory Disease may also be caused by Pelvic Tuberculosis, the prognosis of which is equally negative in nature.

6)Uterine factor that includes Uterine Fibroids, some of them that develop just under the lining of the uterine cavity (submucosal uterine fibroid) cause heavy menstrual bleeding. They are also responsible for infertility and miscarriage.

7)Cervical factors that include Cervical Stenosis and Non-receptive cervical mucus. Cervical infertility  involves the inability of the sperm to pass through the mouth of the uterus due to obstruction caused (a) Due to inadequate or inhospitable cervical mucus; (b) Stenosis or cervical narrowing; (c) Infections of the cervix with common STD like Chlamydia, trichomonas, gonorrhea, mycoplasma hominis, ureaplasma urealyticum and (4) Sperm allergy.