Vivere-Winter Park recognizes 25th Annual National Infertility Awareness Week

Infertility is a disease affecting more than 7 million people across the U.S., according to the National Survey of Family Growth. That number represents 12 percent of women of childbearing age or one in eight couples.

Vivere-Winter Park is proud to recognize the 25^th Annual National Infertility Awareness Week April 20 – 26, joining with other infertility centers and healthcare professionals across the nation to promote greater awareness of infertility, the therapies available to address it, and the journey many couples take to fulfill their dream of becoming parents.

"We are very supportive of any effort to elevate the challenging disease of infertility into the national spotlight," said Dr. Mark Trolice, an infertility and reproductive endocrinology specialist with Fertility Care and Vivere-Winter Park. "Our goal is to help women and couples realize their dream of having or expanding their family by providing them as much support and education as possible."

According to RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, many infertility risk factors are the same for women and men. They include:

• Age. Advancing age in both women and men can reduce fertility. By age 40, a woman's chance of pregnancy has decreased from 90 percent to 67 percent. Men above age 39 have declining sperm counts contributing to infertility as well as possibly miscarriage, birth defects and autism.
• Emotional factors. Depression and stress may have a direct effect on the hormones that regulate reproduction and affect sperm production or ovulation.
• Occupational and environmental risks. Studies suggest that prolonged exposure high temperatures, chemicals, radiation, or heavy electromagnetic or microwave emissions and possibly emotional stress may reduce fertility in both men and women.
• Unprotected sex. Having multiple sex partners and not using condoms may increase the risk of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) that can cause infertility in both men and women.
• Smoking. Smoking may increase the risk of infertility in women and may reduce sperm production in men.
• Alcohol use. Even moderate alcohol intake - as few as five drinks a week - can impair conception.
• Being overweight. Body fat levels that are 10 percent to 15 percent above normal can overload the body with estrogen, throwing off the reproductive cycle.
• Being underweight. Body fat levels 10 percent to 15 percent below normal can completely shut down the reproductive process.