More research is needed into why 1 in 6 people experience infertility, WHO says

Fertility is a personal, complex topic, and a wide variety of circumstances can lead to individuals or couples having difficulty conceiving. A new report from the World Health Organization estimated that 17.5 percent of people across the globe have experienced infertility at some point in their adult lives. The organization also said fertility care must be more accessible and affordable to everyone who needs it.

While it’s not always clear what causes infertility, a range of medical, lifestyle and environmental factors have been linked with the condition. People of all genders can experience infertility, which can be both primary — defined as lack of any pregnancy — or secondary, defined as a lack of pregnancy after at least one initial live birth.

READ MORE: 1 in 6 people globally face infertility at some point in life, WHO says

Researchers believe that exposure to certain chemicals is among the factors that can contribute to fertility issues. A recent Mount Sinai study found an association between higher blood concentrations of PFAS, also called “forever chemicals,” and reduced fertility within a cohort of women who were attempting to conceive.

PFAS most likely also affect male fertility, said Damaskini Valvi, a senior author of the study and is an assistant professor in the department of environmental medicine and public health at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

She added that fertility can significantly influence people’s quality of life, in addition to being a key determinant of overall health. That’s why, in her view, it’s “important to address these environmental exposures that are contributing to the infertility problem that we face today.”

“[Infertility] is also caused by different environmental stressors that we can have in our daily life. But it’s also on its own a cause of stress,” Valvi said, noting the toll that lack of pregnancy can take on those who are trying to conceive.

Medical interventions aimed at treating infertility are often very costly, a reality that can force some who seek them into poverty while precluding others from accessing them in the first place, the WHO said in a press release. The new report also highlighted significant gaps in fertility research in some parts of the world, and made recommendations for how future studies should be carried out — starting with “more consistent, systematic and comprehensive processes” to improve the quality of data that researchers in this field collect.