Declining fertility
In recent years, the Danes’ declining fertility has attracted considerable media attention. Various causes have been discussed. The fact is that women’s fertility declines with age and that Danish women are waiting to have children until they are older.
Danish women are delaying their first pregnancyfor so long that many cannot fall pregnant when they are finally ready. At the same time, men’s sperm quality is deteriorating due to factors such as pollution, unhealthy lifestyles and environmental stimuli. The number of childless couples seeking help is therefore increasing.
Insulin productionand insulin sensitivity (insulin concentration in the blood) seem to play an important role in some patients’ weight problems and therefore ovulation.
Lifestyle factors such as age, smoking, alcohol, coffee and being overweight or underweight also play an important role in fertility, and you can order patient information on these subjects published by Dansk Fertilitetsselskab (The Danish Fertility Association, available in Danish).
Reduced sperm quality can be a cause. If there is a shortage of strong and healthy sperm cells to swim up to meet the egg, fertilisation does not take place. Genetic factors, environmental factors and some medical conditions determine sperm quality. Drugs that promote muscle growth can also reduce sperm quality.
Lack of ovulation can be a cause. Often this is due to hormonal or genetic conditions, obesity – or the opposite – e.g. in connection with elite sport.
Fallopian tubes can grow together, so that sperm cells cannot penetrate as far as the egg, or the egg is not intercepted by the Fallopian tube. The Fallopian tubes can grow together after inflammation of the internal female reproductive organs – e.g. sexually transmitted diseases and gonorrhoea.
Changes in the uterus - tumours and polyps – can prevent the fertilised egg from attaching itself to the wall of the uterus.
Badly packaged genetic material can cause the insemination or test-tube fertilisation to be unsuccessful. There may be abnormalities in the man’s or woman’s chromosomes or problems concerning the quality of the woman’s egg. The most recent research has added another factor that has proved to have a considerable impact on the results of fertility treatment; badly packaged genetic material in the man’s sperm cell. Altogether, for 20 - 25% of the couples attending public or private fertility treatment, the problem involves the man’s sperm cells containing badly packaged genetic material.
Another cause is lack of eggs and insufficient or non-viable sperm cells.
In 10% of the involuntary childless couples, no cause can be determined – neither in the man nor the woman.
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