Infertility is the failure of conceiving after a year of unprotected intercourse. Primary infertility affects couples who never conceived; while secondary infertility is the difficult to conceive after a successful pregnancy.
Generally speaking, most couples consulting for infertility problems have specific and defined problems. However, some instances, there is no apparent cause for infertility, this is called: infertility of unknown origin or idiopathic.
Recently, the term sub-fertility has been used to define couples with fertility problems without apparent reason or advanced age as the only factor.
This doesn’t mean they can not conceive, only means that the monthly probability of pregnancy is diminished. Hence, the goal of reproductive medicine is to diagnose the different factors involved and to help sub-fertile couples to conceive.
