The epidemiological and etiological aspects ofinfertility in Yazd province of Iran

Background: infertility is defined as one year unprotected intercourse withoutpregnancy. it greatly affects couples' quality of life, and has great impact on theircareers, everyday activities, sexual and non-sexual relationships.objective: to study the prevalence of both primary and secondary infertility anddemographic characteristics of it in yazd province.materials and methods: we studied 5200 married defined couples in 260 randomizedclusters. these couples were interviewed based on using a structured questionnaire.then, for etiological evaluation, infertile couples were referred to the research andclinical center for infertility.results: among these couples, 277 cases of infertility were encountered and the overallprevalence of infertility was 5.52% (95% ci from 4.9% to 6.1%). in total 170 couples(3.48%) had primary and 107 (2.04%) had secondary infertility. the prevalence ofinfertility in rural and urban areas was 5.3% and 6.8% respectively. female factors weremore common (57.5%) in etiologic assessment of infertility.conclusion: our data showed a lower total prevalence of infertility in our peoplecompared to the other countries. furthermore, there was significant difference ininfertility prevalence between geographic parts of the province. female factors andamong them ovarian disorders were the main cause of infertility in central part of iran.