CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH IMPAIRED FECUNDITY IN THE UNITED-STATES

According to data from the 1988 National Survey of Family Growth, about 15% of nonsterilized, sexually experienced women aged 15-44 (or 8% of all women of reproductive age) report impaired fecundity because they have difficulty conveiving or carrying a pregnancy to term or their partners have problems fathering a child. Multivariate logistic regressions found that older women, childless women and married women are significantly more likely to report impaired fecundity, but differences by race or ethnicity are not statistically significant. Women with a history of treatment for pelvic inflammatory disease or a history of diabetes, hypertension or endometriosis are all significantly more likely than those without to report that they have impaired fecundity. Women who have never used a contraceptive method are more likely than users of the pill, condom or IUD to report impaired fecundity.