A delayed pregnancy should not be a cause or worry

14/12/2011| IslamWeb

Medical research gives glad tidings to spouses who have been married for a year and still have no children that this is not a sign of being sick or sterile. A recently published study showed that spouses who do not suffer from health problems, even though they become worried after one year of trying to conceive, often succeed in realizing their goal during the second year.

Many spouses hurry to clinics of reproductive health and fertility when there is a delay in pregnancy for fear of having any problems concerning their ability to have children. Scientists, however, believe that doctors should not be hasty in prescribing medicines unless they discover substantial reasons requiring this. They add that the spouses should also keep trying for a longer time if there is no medical cause behind the delay.

 

Scientists point out that the definition of sterility or subfertility includes the inability to conceive after a year of trying. Frequently, young men and women visit fertility clinics for this reason. However, new research shows that chances of normal pregnancy in spouses who are in their late thirties reach about 91% during the first two years of trying.

 

After analyzing the recorded data of 782 spouses from seven European cities, researchers discovered that nowadays spouses wait for a longer period before trying to have children. They also discovered that the man’s age plays an important role in the delay of pregnancy. Previous research showed that the rate of fertility decreases to a greater rate than previously thought. Fertility in women starts to decline as early as the late 20s and for men in their late 30s, which increases fears of sterility when there is a delay in pregnancy.

 

Doctors advise spouses who are under 30 to visit fertilization clinics only after two years of unsuccessful attempts in conceiving. Nonetheless, spouses who are over 30 must not wait for a long period; rather they should start treatment in case there are any specific problems like menstrual irregularity or sexual diseases. 

 

Doctors also mention that fertility treatment, which includes drugs or methods promoting pregnancy like in-vitro fertilization where the egg is fertilized with sperm outside the body in the laboratory and inserting the resulting embryo into the womb, are somewhat risky. They increase the risk of giving birth to twins, multiple labors, complications in pregnancy, giving birth to babies of low weight and size, or babies suffering from deformities and disabilities. They drew attention to the fact that as the woman grows older, the effectiveness of treatment decreases, while the risks and side effects increase.

 

A new study reveals that most healthy spouses who have no health problems succeed in conceiving naturally at the end of the second year, regardless of age. Specialists noticed that only 9% of women between 35-39 years and whose husbands are under forty, fail to conceive after two years of trying. However, this percentage rises to 16% if the husband is above the age of 40.

 

In another discovery, new medical research has revealed that it is possible to help women who experience unexplained repeated miscarriages to conceive through subjecting the embryo to genetic analyses and checks. Scientists at the Instituto Valenciano de Infertilidad in Valencia, Spain said that the simple analysis of the hereditary and genetic structure in the embryos before transferring them to the womb within the operations that promote pregnancy like in-vitro fertilization, through a technique known as Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis may help in defining the problem and solving it.

 

Those scientists stated in the Annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology which was recently held in Vienna, that the disturbance and disorders in the chromosomes might be the main and major cause of miscarriage. They clarify that it is possible to discover such disorders that are known as Aneuploidy through a simple genetic test. Spanish specialists succeeded in achieving normal pregnancy rates and reducing the dangers of abortion in women who have a history of repeated miscarriages and failure of embryo implantation in techniques of in-vitro fertilization. This was achieved through checking the embryos to know if they carry any genetic disease during the in-vitro fertilization procedure to only implant the embryos that have normal genetic patterns into the woman’s womb.

 

Those specialists explained that the non-genetic disorders in a number of chromosomes are common causes of miscarriage. These non-genetic disorders often afflict the embryos that fail to implant themselves in the womb during the techniques of in-vitro fertilization and the ICSI (Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection). Spanish researchers observed 71 women who suffered from unexplained and repeated miscarriages and 42 others who suffered from failure of embryo implantation in three or more attempts of in-vitro fertilization and ICSI (Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection). They compared them to 28 women, who experienced no miscarriages, by taking a cell from the embryo in a very early stage of its development, which does not cause it the least harm. 

 

Doctors found that the rate of the embryos that are affected with chromosomal disorders in the first two groups (repeated miscarriage and implantation failure) increased by one third compared to the third (normal) group. They mentioned that these differences were particularly clear in the embryos of the women who were under the age of 37 as the rate of the abnormal embryos of these women was double. This rate greatly increases in women who are above this age.

 

Those researchers noticed that after implanting only healthy embryos, the rates of pregnancy and miscarriage were similar in the three groups, which means that it is possible to increase the rate of successful pregnancy and reduce the dangers of abortion through genetic analysis before implantation to select only normal embryos to be inserted into the womb. In addition, this operation helps in defining the spouses who are most likely to produce diseased embryos and those who could not have normal embryos.