Human Infertility
Synonyms
Definition
In demography, fertility indicates the product or output of reproduction.
Description
In demography, fertility indicates the product or output of reproduction. It is distinguished from the physiological ability to have children (i.e., manifests roughly in the period between menarche and menopause in women) and is defined fecundity. Demographers define a third, further aspect of reproduction (fecundability) which is the probability of becoming pregnant, or the likelihood of exposure to the possibility of becoming pregnant, that depends on the pattern of sexual and pregnancy preventive behaviors.
Similarly, demographers use the term infertility to refer to the absence of live-born children, or the presence of few children, rather than the term sterility that refers to the possible physiological status underlying childlessness.
Conception and pregnancy followed by fetal loss – whether due to spontaneous or induced abortion or at term...
References
- Rutstein, S. O., & Shah, I. H. (2004). Comparative reports infecundity, infertility, and childlessness in developing countries. Calverton, MD/Geneva, Switzerland: ORC Macro/World Health Organization.Google Scholar