Some newer aspects of the management of infertility

A discussion of infertility would be incomplete without a comment on the changing concepts of the definition. For statistical purposes it may be necessary to retain the criterion of a three year barren marriage. However, for the most satisfactory therapeutic results it appears that investigations for infertility must be instituted before these three, possibly most valuable, years have been wasted. The validity of shortening the period is substantiated by work of Diddle1 and Guttmacher,2 who independently obtained a figure of six months as the average time for a normal couple to achieve pregnancy. Relative infertility may be considered to exist any time after a six month interval. As late marriages and prolonged use of contraceptives are an integral part of our present society (especially in the private practice group) the foregoing fact is extremely important. Patients who marry after the age of 28 are contending, after a three