Analysis of the demographic profile of patients treated for infertility using assisted reproductive techniques in 2005-2010

Abstract

Objectives: analysis of the demographic profile of patients, causes for infertility and effectiveness of infertility treatment methods in the years 2005-2010. Material and methods: Retrospective research was conducted to analyze data of 1705 randomly selected couples who underwent in vitro fertilization procedure at the Department of Reproduction and Gynecological Endocrinology, Medical University of Bialystok, between 2005 and 2010. The analyzed data included mainly causes for infertility, age of the female and male subjects, place of residence and final treatment results. Results: The percentage of pregnancy rate increased significantly to approximately 40% in 2007. The contribution of male and female infertility factors remained at a similar level, but the idiopathic factor continued to steadily increase (to 20% in the last years of the study). We observed a greater prevalence of the male factor among couples living in cities compared to inhabitants of rural areas (42.3% vs. 34.3%, p=0.004), whereas the tubal factor dominated among couples living in the countryside when compared to city dwellers (29.7% vs. 21.6%, p=0.001). The average age of women entering treatment was significantly higher in cities than the countryside (p<0.001), thus, consequently, treatment efficacy was also lower (33.9% vs. 38.9%, p=0.04). Comparison of treatment efficacy and cause of infertility revealed statistically significant differences only with regard to the idiopathic factor (p=0.03). In the group of patients with idiopathic infertility, the treatment efficacy was higher than in the rest of patients (40.2% vs. 33.8%). Apart from the idiopathic infertility, only the presence of the male factor was associated with a higher (but statistically insignificant) pregnancy rate (36.2% vs. 33.9%). For the other factors, their presence was associated with a lower percentage of pregnancy and the greatest differences (but still statistically insignificant) were observed for the polycystic ovary syndrome (31.5% vs. 35.1%) and for other ovulation disorders (31.3% vs. 35%). Conclusions: Advances in assisted reproductive techniques led to an increase in the efficacy of infertility treatment. Environmental factors, availability of treatment and level of awareness about women’s health proved to have the strongest effect on the distribution of infertility causes between urban and rural areas. Significant efforts should be made, especially in cities, to decrease the average age of women’s reproductive decisions and also to shorten the time to the first contact with the specialist after unsuccessful attempts at conception. It is also crucial to initiate the reimbursement of infertility treatment using ART (Assisted Reproductive Technology).