Infertility after 8 years of marriage: a pilot study

With the objective of measuring the prevalence and duration of infertility in a developing country, a retrospective cross-sectional study was designed. The survey was conducted at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Hospital Sn. Borja-Arriaran, Mother and Child Research Institute, University of Chile, Santiago, March-September 1990. The study population comprised 474 women 15-45 years old selected at random from the 11,289 weddings that took place in downtown Santiago, Chile, in 1982. The reproductive history for the preceding 8 years was obtained through home interviews with the women conducted by midwives. The main outcome measures were the prevalence and duration of infertility. The results in this sample showed a 7.04% (95% confidence interval 6.21-7.87) prevalence of infertility after 8 years of marriage with a mean duration of 23 months. It is concluded that after 8 years of marriage about one out of 25 women is infertile (4.01%). This identified a group of patients that would benefit from a programme of assisted reproductive technology.