Visitors look at items on display during a baby fair in Sejong, central South Korea, on Dec. 27, 2019. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 12 (Korea Bizwire) — A significant proportion of women with pregnancy plans are struggling to conceive due to miscarriages and being overweight, a study showed Tuesday.
A research team from Inje University Ilsan Paik Hospital analyzed 2,274 women between the ages of 20 and 45 who participated in the pregnancy preparation program hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, 19.5 percent of whom were infertile.
Among those reported as being infertile, 72.2 percent experienced primary infertility, in which women are not able to get pregnant at all, while 27.8 percent experienced secondary infertility, which occurs after a first-time pregnancy.
The research team said that the risk of infertility was 4.1 times higher among women with experiences of artificial abortion than those without. The infertility risk was 1.58 times higher for overweight females than those who were not.
The infertility group’s rate of artificial abortion was 7.7 percent, with a natural miscarriage rate of 7.4 percent, higher than the 1.8 percent and 4.3 percent reported in the non-infertility group.
Sorted by age, the infertility rate was 14.2 percent for women under 30 years of age, 17.4 percent for those between the ages of 30 and 34, 28.8 percent for those between the ages of 35 and 39, and 37.9 percent among those over the age of 40.
“The experience of miscarriage results in higher risk of infertility due to the thinning endometrium caused by the damages incurred by the miscarriage, as well as inflammatory diseases in the pelvis, infection, and intrauterine synechia,” said Han Jung-yeol, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Inje University Ilsan Paik Hospital.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
