Medical Society Launches 2nd Year of Public Health Campaign on Infertility Prevention; Nat'l Infertility Awareness Week Sept. 21-29

9/18/2002

From: Jason Dring for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, 202-518-8047, Jason@publicinterestpr.com

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 -- With nearly 6.2 million Americans suffering from infertility, reproductive-age women and men must have more information about risks to their fertility, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). So, for the second year, ASRM is a launching a public health campaign to educate the public about risks to their fertility. The campaign focuses on smoking, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unhealthy body weight, and advancing age.

ASRM's "Protect Your Fertility!" campaign targets men and women in their 20s and early 30s to inform them that decisions they make now can impact their fertility later in life.

"Far too few people are aware that the decisions and bad habits they make today can impact their eventual ability to have children," said Michael Soules, MD, ASRM's past president. "While most people are well-versed in the risks that alcohol poses to their liver and smoking poses to their lungs, rarely do they hear the message that they need to protect their reproductive health."

In fact, smoking poses a significant threat to a woman's fertility. Nicotine and other harmful chemicals in cigarettes interfere with the body's ability to create estrogen (a hormone that regulates ovulation) and causes women's eggs to be more prone to genetic abnormalities. Research shows that the amount of damage is based on the amount and length of time a woman smokes. Quitting smoking can prevent future damage.

STIs are also dangerous because they often display few, if any, visible symptoms. As a result, women and men often fail to seek proper treatment and unknowingly infect their partners. Long-term infections can result in pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and subsequent infertility. Getting screened for STIs and using condoms is important in protecting men and women's fertility.

For women, an unhealthy body weight can have devastating consequences. Having too much body fat can result in a woman's body producing too much estrogen, making it react as if it's on birth control and limiting the odds of getting pregnant. Having too little body fat does the reverse: women's bodies can't produce enough estrogen and their reproductive cycles begin shutting down. In addition, both over and under-weight women have irregular menstrual cycles in which ovulation does not occur or is inadequate.

Age is the final threat to fertility. In today's society, increasing numbers of women are waiting to have kids. Nevertheless, it is biological fact that fertility (and the women's amount of eggs) decreases with age. While each woman's body ages differently, women in their 20s and early 30s are most likely to conceive.

While last year's campaign included public service announcements that appeared on buses, this year's effort ran into trouble when shopping malls and movie theaters in Boston, Houston, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. rejected the announcements, claiming that they were not family friendly or entertaining. Fortunately, the campaign will appear in other venues. Packets that include a poster and multiple copies of a magazine style newsletter are being distributed to college health centers, community health centers, Planned Parenthood centers, and YWCA gyms to coincide with National Infertility Awareness Week (September 21-29). Information is also available at ASRM's comprehensive web site, http://www.ProtectYourFertilty.org.

Both the mall and movie PSAs are available for use by media outlets. To view the PSAs, visit http://www.ProtectYourFertiltiy.org. To schedule an interview with ASRM representatives or to receive camera-ready art of the PSAs contact Jason Dring at 202-518-8047 or jason@publicinterestpr.com.

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine is a nonprofit membership organization devoted to advancing the art, science and practice of reproductive medicine. ASRM is the nation's largest professional organization of fertility experts.