The International Committee for Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technology(ICMART) along with 20 more organization notably ASRM, ESHRE,
IFFS, MOD, AFS, GIERAF, ASPIRE, MEFS, REDLARA and FIGO has released a new evidence and consensus based updated document that includes the current definitions of 283 terms that are used in infertility and fertility care.
The updated
document was simultaneously published in Fertility and Sterility and Human
Reproduction.
Earlier, the
list contained 87 terms in 2009 and was developed to facilitate better communications
between infertility professionals and researchers around the world.
Twenty-five Infertility
professionals around the world grouped into 5 groups to work on adding more
words and terms to the existing list, particularly in areas of male fertility, epidemiology
and public health. The final list was reviewed by independent experts around
the globe in particular category.
The definition
of infertility was revised in the new glossary - “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.
[…] Infertility is a disease, which generates disability as an impairment of
function.”
According to
the new edition ‘subfertility’ and ‘infertility’ could be used interchangeably.
Richard J.
Paulson, MD, ASRM President, said in a press release, “The new glossary is a
great tool that will help us improve patient care as well as collaborative
research. Agreeing on standardized definitions and meanings that go
beyond culture and context is essential for medical and scientific
advancements. Everyone in the field of reproductive medicine and science will
benefit from using the new glossary.”
Here is the
link to download the complete glossary in PDF format: Zegers-Hochschild et al, The International Glossary on
Infertility and Fertility Care, 2017, Fertility and Sterility, in press.
Source: ASRM Bulletein.
