- Fertility
Fertility is the natural capability of giving life. As a measure, "Fertility Rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population. This is different from
fecundity , which is defined as the "potential" for reproduction (influenced by gamete production, fertilisation and carrying a pregnancy to term). In the English language, the term was originally applied only tofemale s, but increasingly is applied to males as well, as common understanding of reproductive mechanisms increases and the importance of themale role is better known.Infertility is a deficient fertility.Human fertility depends on factors of
nutrition ,sexual behavior ,culture ,instinct ,endocrinology , timing,economics , way of life, andemotion s. Animal fertility is no less complex.Agriculture
:"See also
arable land , soil fertility,harvest ,Neolithic revolution ."Fertility is also applied to farmlands and plants, where it implies a capacity to yield large crops of soundfruits ,seeds orvegetables .Demography
The
fertility rate is a demographic measure of the number ofchildren per woman. Although it has been until recently considered to be a fairly reliable indicator ofpopulation growth, it is no longer so in much ofAsia . Due toselective abortion and other factors, the ratio of women relative to men in populations is declining. Therefore, the fertility rate as it has traditionally been defined is no longer an authoritative measure of population growth inChina ,India ,Myanmar , andKorea .Human fertility
Both women and men have hormonal cycles which determine both when a woman can achieve
pregnancy and when a man is most virile. The female cycle is approximately twenty-eight days long, but the male cycle is variable. Men can ejaculate and produce sperm at any time of the month, but theirsperm quality dips occasionally, which scientists guess is in relation to their internal cycle.Furthermore, age also plays a role, especially for women.
Menstrual cycle
Although women can become pregnant at any time during their
menstrual cycle , peak fertility occurs during just a few days of the cycle: usually two days before and two days after the ovulation date [http://www.duofertility.com/en/my-body/my-cycle/my-fertile-period.html] . Thisfertile window , varies between from woman to woman, just like the ovulation date often varies from cycle to cycle for the same woman [cite journal |author=Creinin MD, Keverline S, Meyn LA |title=How regular is regular? An analysis of menstrual cycle regularity |journal=Contraception |volume=70 |issue=4 |pages=289–92 |year=2004 |month=Oct |pmid=15451332 |doi=10.1016/j.contraception.2004.04.012 |url=] . Theovule is usually fertilisable for up to 48 hours after it is released from theovary . However,sperm can survive inside theuterus between 48 to 72 hours on average, with the maximum being 120 hours (5 days).Female fertility
The average age of
menarche in the United States is about 12.5 years. [cite journal |author=Anderson SE, Dallal GE, Must A |title=Relative weight and race influence average age at menarche: results from two nationally representative surveys of US girls studied 25 years apart |journal=Pediatrics |volume=111 |issue=4 Pt 1 |pages=844–50 |year=2003 |month=Apr |pmid=12671122 |doi= |url=http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/111/4/844?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&minscore=5000&resourcetype=HWCIT ] In postmenarchal girls, about 80% of the cycles were anovulatory in the first year after menarche, 50% in the third and 10% in the sixth year. [cite journal |author=Apter D |title=Serum steroids and pituitary hormones in female puberty: a partly longitudinal study |journal=Clin. Endocrinol. (Oxf) |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=107–20 |year=1980 |month=Feb |pmid=6249519 |doi= |url=] [cite journal |author=Apter D |title=Serum steroids and pituitary hormones in female puberty: a partly longitudinal study |journal=Clin. Endocrinol. (Oxf) |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=107–20 |year=1980 |month=Feb |pmid=6249519 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2265.1980.tb02125.x |url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119590594/abstract] Women's fertility peaks around the age of 19-24, and often declines after 30. With a rise in women postponing pregnancy,http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_1_62/ai_n16807720 "Late-in-life Pregnancy"] this can create aninfertility problem. Of women trying to get pregnant, without using fertility drugs orin vitro fertilization :*At age 30, 75% will get pregnant within one year, and 91% within four years.
*At age 35, 66% will get pregnant within one year, and 84% within four years.
*At age 40, 44% will get pregnant within one year, and 64% within four years. [cite web | title=Fertility Treatment Less Successful After 35 | work=WebMD | url=http://www.webmd.com/content/article/89/100183.htm | accessmonthday=July 4 | accessyear=2006]The above figures are for pregnancies ending in a live birth and take into account the increasing rates of miscarriage in the ageing population. According to the
March of Dimes , "about 9 percent of recognised pregnancies for women aged 20 to 24 ended in miscarriage. The risk rose to about 20 percent at age 35 to 39, and more than 50 percent by age 42". [cite web | title=Pregnancy After 35
work=March of Dimes | url=http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/14332_1155.asp | accessmonthday=May 21 | accessyear=2008]Birth defects, especially those involving
chromosome number and arrangement, also increase with the age of the mother. According to the March of Dimes, "At age 25, a woman has about a 1-in-1,250 chance of having a baby withDown syndrome ; at age 30, a 1-in-1,000 chance; at age 35, a 1-in-400 chance; at age 40, a 1-in-100 chance; and at 45, a 1-in-30 chance." [cite web | title=The sterility tax can be reestablished in Russia | url=http://russia-ic.com/business_law/in_depth/253/
accessmonthday=September 22 | accessyear=2006]The use of fertility drugs and/or in vitro fertilization can increase the chances of becoming pregnant at a later age. Successful pregnancies facilitated by fertility treatment have been documented in women as old as 67. [cite web|title=Spanish woman ' is oldest mother'|date=|30 December, 2006|accessdate=2006-12-30|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6220523.stm|publisher=BBC News]
Doctors recommend that women over 30 who have been unsuccessful in trying to conceive for more than 6 months undergo some kind of fertility testing. [ [http://fertilitytesting.co.uk/female_fertility_tests.htmlFertility Testing] (Female Fertility Testing)]
Male fertility and age
Erectile dysfunction increases with age, [http://www.infertile.com/inthenew/sci/maleage.htm Effect of Age on Male Fertility] Seminars in Reproductive Endocrinology. Volume, Number 3, August 1991. Sherman J. Silber, M.D.] but fertility does not decline in men as sharply as it does in women. There have been examples of males being fertile at 94 years old. However, evidence suggests that increased male age is associated with a decline in semen volume, sperm motility, and sperm morphology.cite journal |author=Kidd SA, Eskenazi B, Wyrobek AJ |title=Effects of male age on semen quality and fertility: a review of the literature |journal=Fertil. Steril. |volume=75 |issue=2 |pages=237–48 |year=2001 |month=Feb |pmid=11172821 |doi= |url=http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0015-0282(00)01679-4] In studies that controlled for female age, comparisons between men under 30 and men over 50 found relative decreases in pregnancy rates between 23% and 38%.Cause of decline
Sperm count declines with age, with men aged 50-80 years producing sperm at an average rate of 75% compared with men aged 20-50 years. However, an even larger difference is seen in how many of theseminiferous tubules in thetestes contain mature sperm;
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
