Baby delay
Couples in Hong Kong are getting
married later in life than before.
According to the Census and Statistics
Department, the median age of
marriage for men has increased from
27.8
in 1971 to 31.2 in 2006, while the
median age for women has increased
from 22.9 to 28.2 during the same
period. While this trend is expected
in advanced economies, it does pose
some issues when it comes to fertility.
With the average woman in Hong
Kong giving birth at the age of 31,
issues surrounding infertility become
more prominent. The female fertility
rate begins to decline from the age of
30
and drops sharply after 35 for both
women and men.
Couples who are over the age of
35
and have low fertility can expect
to take longer to conceive or not be
able to conceive at all. “Our biggest
problem now is that women are
presenting later in life to start their
families and often their ovaries have
lost some of their reserve by this time
and this reduces their pregnancy
chances,” says Christopher.
Betting against the odds
While most women can still conceive
and give birth naturally after the age
of 35, the proportion of women who
experience infertility, miscarriages, or
problems with their baby – including
the likelihood of Down’s syndrome
and genetic abnormalities – increases
with age. By the age of 40, only two in
five women are likely to get pregnant
and carry a healthy baby to term.
For men, experts say that age
also takes its toll on sperm quality
–
including volume, motility and
structure – with the decline starting
at around 30 years and the rate of
decline increasing sharply at 45. As
such, the chances of birth defects
and fertility problems increase as the
quality of sperm declines. Men who
wait until they are 40 to have a family
face a greater chance of their partner
having a miscarriage, regardless of
her age. When researchers examined
over 12,000 patient records of couples
treated at a fertility clinic in Paris,
they found that women who had
partners over the age of 35 had more
miscarriages than those with younger
male partners. Pregnancy rates also
declined for women with partners over
the age of 40.
Our biggest problem now is that women
are presenting later in life to start their
families and often their ovaries have lost
some of their reserve by this time and this
reduces their pregnancy chances …
Besides actually making sure that
you are having regular unprotected
sex, Hulda suggests that you can
increase your chances of conception
with the following tips:
•
Men should not wear tight clothing
or overheat their testicles (for
example, by sitting in a Jacuzzi or
sauna), as it can lower their sperm
count.
•
Track your ovulation: women are
most fertile halfway through their
cycle. For a woman who has a
28-
day cycle, subtracting 14 days
should give the approximate day of
ovulation.
•
Start having sex earlier in the
woman’s cycle, immediately after
her period, to ensure that a fertile
window is covered at some point.
•
Seek help from an acupuncturist
and nutritionist if you believe
that improving your wellness will
increase the chances of pregnancy.
•
Try supplements with folic acid. In
a pilot study conducted at Stanford
University, 26 per cent of women
taking a supplement known as
FertilityBlend for Women were
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