Infertility in the Moroccan population: major risk factors encountered in the reproductive health centre in Rabat

Abstract

Infertility is responsible for a major cost burden for patients and health care systems. Therefore identifying preventable risk factors for infertility may contribute to the development of more cost-effective approaches to solving the infertility problem. However, such investigations have never been conducted in Morocco. Thereby, the objective of the present study was to determine the occurrence and distribution of these factors among Moroccan infertile couples. This retrospective study included 1265 infertile couples who attended the Assisted Reproductive Technology Unit of the Reproductive Health Centre of the University Hospital Ibn Sina in Rabat. All couples had been infertile for at least 1 year and both partners were fully investigated. Couples had primary and secondary infertility in 77.2% and 22.8% of cases, respectively. Women were overweight in 47.9% of cases and obese in 25.8% of cases while men were overweight in 44.6% of cases and obese in 14.7% of cases. 18.9% of women and 17.5% of men had a previous abdominopelvic or urogenital surgery. A history of sexually transmitted infection was reported by 7% of men and 5.8% of women. A history of tuberculosis was found 9.3% of women and 4.8% of men. In addition, 31.7% of men were cigarette smokers and 8.4% consumed alcohol. The study showed that preventable risk factors of infertility are common among Moroccan infertile couples. However, additional studies are required to investigate each factor and its relation to infertility in the Moroccan population.