Burden of infertility and its associated factors: A cross sectional descriptive analysis of infertility cases reported at a tertiary level hospital of Rajasthan
Abstract
In many cultures in India, womanhood is defined through motherhood and infertile women usually carry the blame for the couple inability to conceive. A childless woman is stigmatized and sometimes not allowed to participate in various auspicious ceremonies, particularly those involving childbirth. The present study was undertaken in S.M.S. Medical College, Jaipur, Rajasthan to find out the factors contributing to infertility and the health seeking behavior of infertile women. A hospital based observational study was carried out in year 2017 on eligible women attending OPD of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Mahila Chikitsalaya, S.M.S. Medical College Jaipur. A total 1000 eligible women were recruited using systematic random sampling and interviewed using a predesigned and pretested questionnaire. A total of 119 women (11.9%) were found to be infertile. Age of women, caste, residence, education status of women, occupation, family size and socio-economic status were found to be significantly associated with infertility (P<0.05). Lower age of women, OBC caste, urban residence, less family size, lesser education status of women, housewives and middle socio-economic status were found to have significantly more infertile females than their counterparts. Age of women, type of family and religion were not found to be associated with infertility (P >0.05). Improving awareness about infertility and its management could help reduce the burden and its social implications.
Keywords
Download Options
Introduction
Basic unit of Indian society is family. Parenthood is considered one of the most important life achievements in the Indian society.1 It is widely accepted that human existence reaches completeness through a child and fulfills the individual’s need for reproduction. 2 Infertility disrupts the basic social structure (Family-building) and there by the domestic and social economic wellbeing of a couple is not achieved.
Although good documentation of the prevalence of infertility is lacking, it is generally believed that more than 70 million couples suffer from infertility worldwide.2,3 In India the prevalence of primary infertility was 12.6 percent.4
So it is of paramount importance to study this problem of infertility that's why this study was designed to know the burden of infertility in our setup and factors associated with infertility.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that proportion of infertile women were 11.9%. Age of women, caste, residence, education status of women, occupation, family size and socio-economic status were found to be significantly associated with infertility.