Chapter 3
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2022
Summary
Female fertility: hostage to affluence, age and the search for self-fulfilment In modern industrialized societies female fertility is compromised due to a perfect storm of social, economic, educational and political factors that far outweigh any attempt by Governments to encourage women to have more children. In affluent societies, there is no need to have a large family. Infant and childhood mortalities are low and children are not needed in the workforce to facilitate survival of the family unit. As a result of the reduction in family size, women are freed to pursue their educational and professional goals. This ultimately means that childbearing is postponed to the point that fertility goes into age-dependent decline, around the age of 35. Many women in this situation will look to the IVF industry for salvation, however live births decline with age following assisted conception just as they do in natural cycles. Oocyte donation and/or cryopreservation are the only realistic methods to address age-dependent female infertility at the present time, although even these techniques are far from infallible. As societies engage in the long march to affluence, we shall inevitably witness repeated collisions between the tectonic plates of female biology and our prosperity-driven quests for gender equality, longevity and fulfilment. Ultimately fertility is the victim.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Infertility TrapWhy life choices impact your fertility and why we must act now, pp. 54 - 131Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022
References
3.14 References
Aitken, RJ, De Iuliis, GN, Nixon, B. The sins of our forefathers: paternal impacts on de novo mutation rate and development. Annu Rev Genet 2020;54:1–24.Google Scholar
Alviggi, C, Humaidan, P, Howles, CM, Tredway, D, Hillier, SG. Biological versus chronological ovarian age: implications for assisted reproductive technology. Reprod Biol Endocrinol 2009;7:101.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Angell, RR, Aitken, RJ, van Look, PF, Lumsden, MA, Templeton, AA. Chromosome abnormalities in human embryos after in vitro fertilization. Nature 1983;303(5915):336–338.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Births, Australia, 2000, cat. no. 3301.0, Canberra: ABS, 2000.Google Scholar
Baker, TG. A quantitative and cytological study of germ cells in human ovaries. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1963;158:417–433.Google ScholarPubMed
Betzig, L. Despotism and Differential Reproduction: A Darwinian View of Reproduction. New York, Aldine, 1986.Google Scholar
Canelón, SP, Boland, MR. A systematic literature review of factors affecting the timing of menarche: the potential for climate change to impact women’s health. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2020;17(5):1703.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carrasquillo, RJ, Kohn, TP, Cinnioglu, C, et al. Advanced paternal age does not affect embryo aneuploidy following blastocyst biopsy in egg donor cycles. J Assist Reprod Genet 2019;36(10):2039–2045.Google Scholar
Dang, TT, Phung, TM, Le, H, et al. Preimplantation genetic testing of aneuploidy by next generation sequencing: association of maternal age and chromosomal abnormalities of blastocyst. Open Access Maced J Med Sci 2019;7(24):4427–4431.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Drago, R, Sawyer, K, Shreffler, KM, Warren, D, Wooden, M. Did Australia’s baby bonus increase fertility intentions and births? Popul Res Policy Rev 2011;30:381–397.Google Scholar
Duflo, E, Dupas, P, Kremer, M, Sinei, S. Education and HIV/AIDS prevention: evidence from a randomized evaluation in Western Kenya. Working Paper 2006; 4024. World Bank, Washington DC. https://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-4024 (accessed September 2021).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eaton, JW, Mayer, AJ. The social biology of very high fertility among the Hutterites; the demography of a unique population. Hum Biol 1953;25(3):206–264.Google ScholarPubMed
Eckert-Lind, C, Busch, AS, Petersen, JH, et al. Worldwide secular trends in age at pubertal onset assessed by breast development among girls: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatr 2020;174(4):e195881.Google Scholar
Fletcher, GJ, Simpson, JA, Campbell, L, Overall, NC. Pair-bonding, romantic love, and evolution: the curious case of Homo sapiens. Perspect Psychol Sci 2015;10(1):20–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garenne, M. Trends in age at menarche and adult height in selected African countries (1950–1980). Ann Hum Biol 2020;47(1):25–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
GBD. 2017 Population and Fertility Collaborators. Population and fertility by age and sex for 195 countries and territories, 1950–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet. 2018;392(10159):1995–2051.Google Scholar
Goldman, RH, Racowsky, C, Farland, LV, et al. Predicting the likelihood of live birth for elective oocyte cryopreservation: a counseling tool for physicians and patients. Hum Reprod 2017;32(4):853–859.Google Scholar
González, L. The effect of a universal child benefit on conceptions, abortions, and early maternal labor supply. AEJ Economic Policy 2013;5(3):160–188.Google Scholar
Hertrich, V. Trends in age at marriage and the onset of fertility transition in sub‐Saharan Africa. Fertil Trans Sub‐Saharan Africa Popu Devel Rev 2017;3(S1):112–137.Google Scholar
HFEA. Annual publication on our regulatory work. 2020. www.hfea.gov.uk/about-us/publications/research-and-data/state-of-the-fertility-sector-2019-2020/; viewed 27/9/21.Google Scholar
Hook, EB, Warburton, D. Turner syndrome revisited: review of new data supports the hypothesis that all viable 45,X cases are cryptic mosaics with a rescue cell line, implying an origin by mitotic loss. Hum Genet 2014;133(4):417–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huete-García, A, Otaola-Barranquero, M. Demographic assessment of Down Syndrome: a systematic review. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2021;18(1):352.Google Scholar
Huxley, JS. Metamorphosis of axolotl caused by thyroid-feeding. Nature 1920;104:435.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ibitoye, M, Choi, C, Tai, H, Lee, G, Sommer, M. Early menarche: a systematic review of its effect on sexual and reproductive health in low- and middle-income countries. PLoS One 2017;12(6):e0178884.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Karapanou, O, Papadimitriou, A. Determinants of menarche. Reprod Biol Endocrinol 2010;8:115.Google Scholar
Karim, A, Qaisar, R, Hussain, MA. Growth and socio-economic status, influence on the age at menarche in school going girls. J Adolesc 2021;86:40–53.Google Scholar
Kim, PS, Coxworth, JE, Hawkes, K. Increased longevity evolves from grandmothering. Proc Biol Sci 2012;279(1749):4880–4884.Google ScholarPubMed
Kim, PS, McQueen, JS, Hawkes, K. Why does women’s fertility end in mid-life? Grandmothering and age at last birth. J Theor Biol 2019;461:84–91.Google Scholar
Konner, M. Nursing frequency and birth spacing in Kung hunter-gatherers. IPPF Med Bull 1978;15(2):1–3.Google ScholarPubMed
Konner, M. Hunter-gatherer infancy and childhood. In: Hewlett, BS, Lamb, ME (Eds.) Hunter-Gatherer Childhoods: Evolutionary, Developmental, and Cultural Perspectives Oxford and New York, Routledge, 2005.Google Scholar
Krieger, T, Renner, L. Polygyny, inequality, and social unrest. CESifo Working Paper 2020; 8230. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3582326 (accessed September 2021).Google Scholar
Lee, CI, Wu, CH, Pai, YP, et al. Performance of preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy in IVF cycles for patients with advanced maternal age, repeat implantation failure, and idiopathic recurrent miscarriage. Taiwan J Obstet Gynecol 2019;58(2):239–243.Google Scholar
Lesthaeghe, R. The second demographic transition: a concise overview of its development. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2014;111(51):18112–18115.Google Scholar
Loane, M, Morris, JK, Addor, MC, et al. Twenty-year trends in the prevalence of Down syndrome and other trisomies in Europe: impact of maternal age and prenatal screening. Eur J Hum Genet 2013;21(1):27–33.Google Scholar
Lord, T, Aitken, RJ. Fertilization stimulates 8-hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine repair and antioxidant activity to prevent mutagenesis in the embryo. Dev Biol 2015;406(1):1–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Loudon, NB, Foxwell, M, Potts, DM, Guild, AL, Short, RV. Acceptability of an oral contraceptive that reduces the frequency of menstruation: the tri-cycle pill regimen. Br Med J 1977;2(6085):487–490.Google Scholar
Martinez, GM. Trends and patterns in menarche in the United States: 1995 through 2013–2017. Natl Health Stat Report 2020;(146):1–12.Google Scholar
Mikwar, M, MacFarlane, AJ, Marchetti, F. Mechanisms of oocyte aneuploidy associated with advanced maternal age. Mutat Res 2020;785:108320.Google Scholar
Milligan, D, Drife, JO, Short, RV. Changes in breast volume during normal menstrual cycle and after oral contraceptives. Br Med J 1975;4(5995):494–496.Google Scholar
Myrskylä, M, Kohler, HP, Billari, FC. Advances in development reverse fertility declines. Nature 2009;460(7256):741–743.Google Scholar
Osili, UO, Long, BT. Does female schooling reduce fertility? Evidence from Nigeria. J Dev Econ 2008;87(1):57–75.Google Scholar
Pradhan, E, Suzuki, EM, Martínez, S, Schäferhoff, M, Jamison, DT. The effects of education quantity and quality on child and adult mortality: their magnitude and their value. In: Bundy, DAP, Silva, ND, Horton, S, Jamison, DT, Patton, GC (Eds.) Child and Adolescent Health and Development. 3rd edn. Washington (DC), The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank, 2017. Chapter 30.Google Scholar
Ridley, M. The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature. New York, Macmillan, 1994.Google Scholar
Sacchi, L, Albani, E, Cesana, A, et al. Preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy improves clinical, gestational, and neonatal outcomes in advanced maternal age patients without compromising cumulative live-birth rate. J Assist Reprod Genet 2019;36(12):2493–2504.Google Scholar
Schellekens, J. Family allowances and fertility: socioeconomic differences. Demography 2009;46(3):451–468.Google Scholar
Short, RV. The evolution of human reproduction. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 1976;195(1118):3–24.Google Scholar
Short, RV, Lewis, PR, Renfree, MB, Shaw, G. Contraceptive effects of extended lactational amenorrhoea: beyond the Bellagio Consensus. Lancet 1991;337(8743):715–717.Google Scholar
Tannus, S, Son, WY, Gilman, A, et al. The role of intracytoplasmic sperm injection in non-male factor infertility in advanced maternal age. Hum Reprod 2017;32(1):119–124.Google Scholar
Tyc, KM, McCoy, RC, Schindler, K, Xing, J. Mathematical modeling of human oocyte aneuploidy. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2020;117(19):10455–10464.Google Scholar
Uematsu, A, Yorifuji, T, Muroi, J, et al. Parental origin of normal X chromosomes in Turner syndrome patients with various karyotypes: implications for the mechanism leading to generation of a 45,X karyotype. Am J Med Genet 2002;111(2):134–139.Google Scholar
Viñals Gonzalez, X, Odia, R, Naja, R, et al. Euploid blastocysts implant irrespective of their morphology after NGS-(PGT-A) testing in advanced maternal age patients. J Assist Reprod Genet 2019;36(8):1623–1629.Google Scholar
Wertheimer, WJ. The politics of STDs: dwindling resources for a growing problem. Prim Care 1990;17(1):183–194.Google Scholar
Zabin, LS, Kiragu, K. The health consequences of adolescent sexual and fertility behavior in sub-Saharan Africa. Stud Fam Plann 1998;29(2):210–232.Google Scholar
Zhang, J, Quan, J, Van Meerbergen, P. The effect of tax-transfer policies on fertility in Canada, 1921–88. J Hum Resour 1994;29(1):181–201.Google Scholar