Boosting chances for conception

Biological constraints on childbearing continue to be stretched by improved technology. A Tampa seminar will examine some of these and present other options to those dealing with infertility.

By SUSAN ASCHOFF, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 23, 2002

Women who wait to have children may be gambling with nature. By age 35, about a third will have fertility problems. By 40, two-thirds may have difficulty getting pregnant.

The time limit on motherhood is real, say the experts.

"Women really have no idea about their own biology. We are born with the eggs we will have for our entire life," says Dr. Sandy Goodman, board-certified in reproductive endocrinology and a fertility specialist in Tampa.

Women in their 40s also have more miscarriages. As an egg ages, it is more likely to develop chromosomal abnormalities, the most common cause of miscarriages.

Yet about 20 percent of women in the United States have their first child after age 35.

Goodman will be one of the speakers featured at a free seminar on fertility, "Maybe a Baby," on April 27 in Tampa. The seminar will be 8 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. at the Women's Center at University Community Hospital, 3100 E Fletcher Ave. Those interested in attending or seeking more information should call (813) 615-7300.

Topics will include advances in reproductive technology, adoptions, surrogacy, insurance coverage and more. Goodman, who is with Reproductive Medicine Group, which has offices in Clearwater, Brandon and Tampa, says she is particularly excited about advances dealing with in vitro fertilization.

Typically, fertilization of an egg outside the womb, or in vitro fertilization, has only a 20 to 25 percent chance of resulting in a baby being born. Each time it is attempted, successful or not, it costs $4,000 to $15,000, national estimates show. The cost is rarely covered by health insurance.

But in the last couple of years, Goodman says, fertility experts have increased the odds for success to as high as 1 in 2 by using blastocysts, which are five-day-old embryos. By implanting after five days rather than earlier, as was done in the past, specialists can select the most viable embryo and eliminate the need to implant many to increase the odds one will thrive.

About 40 percent of infertility is attributable to men. About 15 percent of couples in the United States have difficulty conceiving, an infertility rate that has not varied significantly for more than a century among middle-class married couples. Common causes are abnormal hormone levels, inadequate sperm or eggs and blocked fallopian tubes. Sexually transmitted and other diseases also can damage reproductive systems.

Read more

Taking Charge of Your Fertility, by Toni Weschler (Quill, revised 2002, paperback). Originally published in 1995, Taking Charge has almost 500 pages, including a glossary, charts to use and listings of where to go for help in a medical field revolutionized by technology over the past 20 years. Weschler, a woman's health educator, explains how daily observation of three key fertility signs assists in conception or contraception, and why a woman's cycle is key to her overall health.

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