Unexplained infertility: overall success remains high

Infertility affects 1 in 7 couples and in a quarter of them, standard investigations fail to diagnose a cause for the conception delay.

Standard investigations like test for ovulation, tubal patency test and semen analysis are found to be normal in them.

This diagnosis, or in other words ‘no diagnosis’ can be quite frustrating for the couples, as they might feel there is nothing to fix.

However, one should not lose hope.

Overall success rates remain high for couples with ‘unexplained infertility’.

Back in 1985 Hull et al looked at 708 couples trying to conceive for 2.5 years on an average.

Out of them 28% had unexplained subfertility.

They found an overall chance of pregnancy of 72% in these couples (Ref).

Further in 2011, Brandes et al looked at 437 couples with unexplained infertility and found that 74% conceived spontaneously (before or in between fertility treatments) within 8 – 14 months of completing investigations (Ref).

However, individual success rates will vary depending on various factors like age of the female partner, ovarian reserve, quality of eggs/sperm/embryo, duration of trying to conceive and also any previous successful pregnancy in the same relation.

Written by: Dr Anupa Nandi