New definitions for infertility and other definitions
Obie Editorial Team
Recently, there have been new definitions for infertility published in Fertility & Sterility:
Infertility: A disease characterized by the failure to establish a clinical pregnancy after 12 months of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse or due to an impairment of a person’s capacity to reproduce either as an individual or with his/her partner. Fertility interventions may be initiated in less than 1 year based on medical, sexual and reproductive history, age, physical findings and diagnostic testing. Infertility is a disease, which generates disability
as an impairment of function.
Some terms with an important new definition
• Clinical pregnancy
• Conception (removed from glossary)
• Diminished ovarian reserve
• Fertility care
• Hypospermia (replaces oligospermia)
• Ovarian reserve
• Pregnancy
• Preimplantation genetic testing
• Spontaneous abortion/miscarriage
• Subfertility (should be used interchangeably with infertility)
Zegers-Hochchild F, Adamson GD, Dyer S, et al. The International Glossary on Infertility
and Fertility Care, 2017. Fertil Steril. 2017;108(3):393–406.