Infertility – a disease or not according to the WHO definition
Journal Title: Medycyna Ogólna i Nauki o Zdrowiu - Year 2012, Vol 18, Issue 2
Abstract
Introduction: Infertility in marriage is a widespread, and not only medical, but also a social problem.Objective: The purpose of study was verification of whether or not, according to the definition by the WHO, infertility is approached as a disease in the relevant literature, and the determination of premises to view infertility in that way.Material and methods: In order to collect material for the study, medical university databases: PubMed, MEDLINE and Social Care Online data, were searched for the following key notions: infertility, consequences of infertility, quality of life of infertile individuals, disease, and chronic disease. The search was limited to literature in Polish and English published in 1994-2010. Subsequently, 48 reports were selected, 27 of which were finally used for the presented study. In addition, 6 reports were used which were not included in the above-mentioned databases, but found in private database of other researchers. Finally, 33 reports were analyzed.Results: The WHO and some researchers support the thesis that infertility is a disease of a ‘social’ character. However, there are numerous opposing approaches stating that infertility cannot be considered as a disease, because it is not associated with pain, not life threatening and it does concern a single individual. The review of literature showed a wide diversity of opinions among the researchers which allowed the drawing of some conclusions.Conclusions: Contemporary literature does not provide an explicit definition of marriage infertility as a disease, although there are numerous arguments for approaching it as such.Key words: infertility, consequences of infertility, quality of life of infertile individuals, chronic disease
Authors and Affiliations
Celina Łepecka-Klusek, Anna B. Pilewska-Kozak, Grzegorz Jakiel
Keywords
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