Infertility classification

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [2] Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Sanjana Nethagani, M.B.B.S.[3]

Overview

Infertility is broadly classified into primary and secondary, where primary infertility is seen in women who have never conceived and secondary infertility is the inability to conceive after a previous pregnancy. Infertility can also be classified based on etiology such as endocrine, metabolic, genetic etc

Classification

Classification Based Upon History^[1]

Primary infertility

It refers to couples who have never been able to conceive.
Primary infertility also includes women conceived but have had regular miscarriages.

Secondary infertility

It refers to difficulty conceiving after already having conceived and carried a normal pregnancy. Technically, secondary infertility is not present if there has been a change of partners.

Other causes of infertility are male infertility, systemic medical illnesses and unexplained infertility.

References

↑ Hull MG, Cahill DJ (1998). “Female infertility”. Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am. 27 (4): 851–76. doi:10.1016/s0889-8529(05)70044-x. PMID 9922911.

[pmid9922911-1] Hull MG, Cahill DJ (1998). “Female infertility”. Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am. 27 (4): 851–76. doi:10.1016/s0889-8529(05)70044-x. PMID 9922911.

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