Contact:
Mag. My Hue McGowran
Phone: +43-1-81140-308
E-Mail: mcgowran@newsfox.com
| Pressbox | 
|
Copenhagen (pte039/22.06.2005/14:22) - Professor Bill Ledger of the University of Sheffield http://www.shef.ac.uk warned yesterday, Tuesday, that one in three couples may need IVF treatment in order to conceive. He sites three main reasons for this dilemma: obesity, sexually-transmitted diseases - particularly a recent increase in chlamydia - and mothers preferring careers rather than child-bearing, which leads to later pregnancies, if at all.
Modern lifestyle factors such as falling sperm counts in men, the choice of delaying starting a family, increasing obesity, which reduces women's ability to fall pregnant, and the transferral of sexual diseases are influencing couple's chances of having children.
Currently, one in seven couples experience difficulties with conceiving, said Ledger, and more couples are turning to IVF, which is expensive - costing about £5,000 (about 7,500 eur) a cycle.
The level of obesity in young girls in Britain is increasing, with 13.7 per cent of those aged between two and 10 defined as clinically obese. Ovulation is a problem with obese women, and they become less likely to conceive naturally.
Chlamydia is also on the rise. Because symptoms are hidden, those who have it don't always know. "There will be a 10-year time lag in some of these factors because women who have chlamydia do not even know they have it until they come to have children - there is your time-bomb straight away," said Ledger.
In addition to these problems is the increasing proclivity for women to delay motherhood - to late 30s or early 40s, which is both career-related but is also almost enforced by Britain's workplace policies, which don't encourage women to take time out from their careers to have children.
A Department of Health spokesman said that the institution was "committed to improving the health of the nation, reducing obesity, promoting healthy living and tackling sexually transmitted infections. That includes introducing a new target to halt the year-on-year rise in obesity among children under 11 by 2010."
(end)
|
|
