Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-31-2012
Publication Title
Population Health Metrics
Department
Geisel School of Medicine
Abstract
Background: Infertility is a significant disability, yet there are no reliable estimates of its global prevalence. Studies on infertility prevalence define the condition inconsistently, rendering the comparison of studies or quantitative summaries of the literature difficult. This study analyzed key components of infertility to develop a definition that can be consistently applied to globally available household survey data.
Methods: We proposed a standard definition of infertility and used it to generate prevalence estimates using 53 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). The analysis was restricted to the subset of DHS that contained detailed fertility information collected through the reproductive health calendar. We performed sensitivity analyses for key components of the definition and used these to inform our recommendations for each element of the definition.
DOI
10.1186/1478-7954-10-17
Dartmouth Digital Commons Citation
Mascarenhas, Maya N.; Cheung, Hoiwan; Mathers, Colin D.; and Stevens, Gretchen A., "Measuring Infertility in Populations: Constructing a Standard Definition for Use with Demographic and Reproductive Health Surveys" (2012). Dartmouth Scholarship. 1565.
https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/1565