Lack of fertility awareness and practices of fertile period as a cause of infertility in a tertiary care hospital of north india

Background: Most cases of infertility are because of physiological causes in one or both the partners. Poor fertility period awareness acts as a contributing cause. This study is aimed to achieve a better understanding of the awareness and practices of fertile period in infertile couples seeking fertility assistance.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional questionnaire based study, conducted on infertile couples at Santosh Medical College and Hospital, Ghaziabad, over a period of 3 months from December 2019 to February 2020.
Results: Out of 132 patients approached, 118 patients (89.4%) consented to be included in the study. Only 20% correctly identified that both males and females are equally responsible for infertility. 74% patients had knowledge about the fertile period of female's menstrual cycle, but only 29% of them could correctly identify it to be mid-cycle. 83% patients were not practicing fertile period either due to lack of knowledge about the correct time of fertile window period or due to the fact that since their husbands were staying away, they were not able to follow any particular time of the menstrual cycle. 24% patients had already taken prior treatment, but 64 % of them were not practicing fertile period, as they did not believe in the concept of fertile period.
Conclusion: There was poor level of fertility awareness and practices among women presenting for treatment of infertility. Greater availability of fertility clinics and proper counseling by trained healthcare personnel about timed intercourse within the fertile window is strongly recommended.