Incidence and main causes of infertility in patients attending the infertility center of Imam khomeini hospital in 2002-2004

Background and Infertility is a common problem in all connunities. Between 8 to 12 percent of couples around the world have difficulties conceiving a child. Cultural, Socioeconomic and environmental factors play major roles in the etiology of infertility. The objective of this study was to estimate and analyse the causes of infertility in patients attending the infertility clinic. The medical records of 657 infertile couples attending Imam infertility clinic, Sari, Iran from October 2002 to October 2004 were reviewed. The evaluation protocol include menstrual obstetric and sexual history, sex hormone profile, tubal patency and semen analysis. The mean duration of infertility of couples was 5.7 years. The mean age of male and female partners were 33 and 29 years respectively. About 23.5% of the couples had secondary infertility. The etiology of infertility revealed a female factor in 37.6%, a male factor in 31.1%, combined factors in 17.2% and undetermined causes in 14.2% of the cases. Anovulation and semen factor were the most common identifiable etiologic factors in female and male partners repectively. The etiology of infertility revealed a simi lar spectrum of causes as found in other studies. However, ovulatory failure was higher comparing to some other studies.