Infertility to get worse - experts - News in brief

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This is because genetic disorders affecting the ability to conceive could be passed on to the babies of such couples.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, the experts said the ability to conceive is expected to decline over time, regardless of environmental pressures.

"This is because it probably has a strong genetic component," they wrote. "With the advent of assisted conception, subfertile couples may have as many children as fertile couples, so that genetic factors linked to infertility will become more prevalent in the generations to come."

The editorial was written by Jens Peter Ellekilde Bonde, professor of occupational medicine at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark, and Jorn Olsen, professor of epidemiology at the University of California Los Angeles.

They cited a 1999 study looking at Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden, which found that infertility affects about 15% of couples trying to conceive.

In some countries, including Denmark, up to 6% of children are conceived through assisted reproductive techniques, they added.

Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at Sheffield University and honorary secretary of the British Fertility Society, said he agreed there was a need for more research.

He said there was not enough evidence to suggest infertility rates would rise in the future as a result of assisted conception. Social factors, such as delaying starting a family, were having a much bigger impact, he added.

Susan Seenan, from the charity Infertility Network UK, said: "Any research which helps ensure that in the future couples are not faced with having to deal with the difficulties of not being able to conceive must be encouraged."