Experience with a comprehensive university hospital-based infertility program in Nigeria

To assess outcome at an infertility management center in Nigeria.

Diagnoses were made for 1948 consecutive couples following the World Health Organization guideline on the investigation of infertile couples, treatment was provided, and the couples were followed up over a 10-year period.

The infertility was primary in 14.3% and secondary in 85.7% of cases. Treatment failed in 59.9% and succeeded in 40.1% of cases, resulting in pregnancy for 13.5% of the couples with female infertility factors alone, 6.5% of the couples with male infertility factors alone, and 3.6% of those with both male and female factors. The pregnancy rate was 16.6% for couples with idiopathic infertility.

Pregnancy outcome was relatively poor because conventional treatments did not cure the most prevalent causes of infertility, and assisted reproductive technology is therefore advocated.