HYDERABAD: Age related infertility is on the rise among women today as most of them are delaying pregnancy due to career requirements.
“One out of three women who come to us are affected with age related infertility. Age related infertility was not very common earlier but over the past two years these cases have been on the rise,” Jayanthi, an infertility consultant at KIMS, said.
Changing lifestyle and societal trends, over exposure to electronic gadgets, erratic work hours are taking a toll on fertility, opine doctors.
Stating that many women are opting to conceive after the age of 35, doctors note that most common cause of age-related decline in fertility is less frequent ovulation. As women age, they begin to have occasional cycles where an egg is never released. Egg quality and quantity also declines in 30s and 40s.
“Mostly working women, who postpone their pregnancy due to career pressures are suffering from infertility problems. As age progresses ovum (egg) count decreases gradually in females. As a result the probability of woman bearing child decreases. But most of the working women are opting for pregnancies only after crossing 30s which is undesirable,” opine Jayanthi.
Unlike in men, menopause occurs early in women and the ideal age for women to have children is in twenties.
“The chances of fertilisation are dependent on it egg count. More the count more the chances of conception. Though decrease in sperm count can be reversed in men, decrease in egg count cannot be reversed. Therefore women should be cautious about preserving and maintaining their egg count,” said Chandana Lakkireddi, infertility consultant at Nova Infertility Clinic.
As the egg count decreases with age, many working women are also going for ‘egg freezing’. The trend of egg freezing is catching up of late in Hyderabad. Even some corporate organisations are sponsoring their employees for egg freezing. Though egg freezing is regarded as the solution to tackle infertility problem, it is not a fool-proof system.
“Eggs are extracted from women and preserved for future use when women want to get pregnant. Many working women are going for it now and even many corporate companies are sponsoring their employees for preserving eggs. But there is no substitute for natural process and the quality of eggs may decrease over a period of time and the chances of conception is also remote,’’ explained Jayanthi.