Introduction

Abstract

The satellite symposium, Advances in Fertility Management -Maximizing Conception Opportunities discussed the recent advances in female fertility monitoring and, in particular, the place of home-based fertility monitoring. This supplement reports on the presentations given at the symposium.Published data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth reveal that the rate of infertility across the 15 -44 female age range in the USA increased from 4.5 million (8.4%) in 1988 to 6.2 million (10.2%) in 1995. 1 Projections made from the same study data predict that the total rate of infertility is likely to reach 5.0 -6.3 million in 2000, increasing to 5.4 -7.7 million in 2025.Stephen and Chandra 1 suggest that one of the primary reasons for this increasing rate of infertility is the growing number of women choosing to start a family later in life -when their ovarian reserve, and hence fertility, is diminished considerably. Considering that female subfertility commences at 30 -31 years of age, 2,3 it is particularly noteworthy that in 1994, approximately one-third of births in the USA were to women over 35 years old. 4 Furthermore in the USA, the childless rate for women over the age of 35 has nearly doubled since 1925. 4