Is IF on the rise?

matthewsbride05 · November 2011

My hairdresser, all my friend's bridesmaids, (myself included), and my sister all suffered from IF or are going through infertility now. I know there are plenty of people who get pregnant easily (and I work with a lot of them), but I was wondering if infertility is on the rise. Could this be environmental? The women I am writing about are in their late twenties or early thirties. Thanks!

Mrs.Slick · November 2011

I think that awareness is rising which makes it seem like more people are experiencing it.

katib77 · November 2011

I do not believe it's on the rise. I think because you are the age when it happens you hear about it more (than you would when you were in your teens & early twenties). PLUS I think a lot more of us are open about it then ten & twenty years ago so there are a lot of women in their 40's& early 50's that dealt with it when they were are age but rarely talk about it.

I work with two women that have teen age daughters (13 & 16) that once I opened up about my IF told me their daughters were a product of ART. They say aside from their family, they don't tell people unless they know we're going through it - to give us hope that it does work. AND I know two sets of parents of friends of mine that adopted my friends because back when they were TTC, ART was not around. (their kids are now 40 & 36). So it was probably just as prevalent then but nothing they could really do about it. That is why I am so thankfully to be here now, and not back in the 70's!!

edit: ages were off

Trish11278 · November 2011

Mrs.Slick:
I think that awareness is rising which makes it seem like more people are experiencing it.

Yes

maggie2324 · November 2011

I think it is on the rise, but that it is age related. People are waiting longer to have children, which we all know. Most women in their late twenties and early thirties are fertile, but women's fertility peaks in their early twenties.

Here's a graph of the likelihood of getting pregnant in a year and likelihood of infertility based on age:

https://assets.babycenter.com/i/infertilitygraph.gif

I also agree with the other ladies that awareness is increasing as well and that's really what you're noticing.

Ok, so now referring to male fertility, I believe that's on the decline (but maybe not significantly). They keep on revising the numbers of what's normal for men because their numbers have been declining over the decades. Probably environmental factors... it's all debatable. Some say disposable diapers affect it, mothers consuming soy, cell phones in the pockets... who knows?

weddinginbloom · November 2011

I think it's on the rise too and my suspicion is that it's environmentally-related to all the chemicals we manufacture nowadays that get into our water supply, as well as all the plastics we use. There are lots of studies about environmental pollutants causing endocrine and reproductive disruption in animals.

I agree with Maggie about age too as another contributing factor.

Does anyone know of any studies on the prevalence of IF? I don't recall ever seeing one and it seems like that particular question is not studied much.

AshleyR2452 · November 2011

I think that people are maybe just a lot more open about it these days. Ten or twenty years ago, there's no way that half of the women out there would actually share their experiences or let anyone in on the trouble they are going through.

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