Infertility most commonly refers to a couple’s inability to become pregnant after 1 year of unprotected intercourse. In addition, infertility is used to describe a woman’s repeated, consecutive inability to carry a baby to term.
Primary infertility refers to a couple that has never had a child and has difficulty getting pregnant. Secondary infertility refers to an infertile person or couple that has had one or more children in the past, but is having trouble getting pregnant again.
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine reports that 5.3 million Americans, or 9 percent of the reproductive age population suffer from infertility. And of the 80% of cases with a diagnosed cause, about half are based at least partially on male problems.