Treatment seeking pattern among infertile couple in Rural and Urban areas of Vijayapur district, Karnataka.

Abstract

Infertility is a public health problem affecting people worldwide from all the communities due to various causes . After getting married, some couples wait for years, others seek assistance within months. With this background, we conducted this study to know the pattern of treatment seeking among infertile couples. Objective : To assess the treatment seeking pattern of infertile couples in rural and urban areas of Vijayapur district, Karnataka. Material and methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in the rural and  urban field practice area between  March 2015- February 2016. Complete enumeration of all the houses was done to list all eligible couples and those who were exposed to pregnancy and had infertility were identified. Results: It was found that 58% of the couples  from rural area and 42% from urban area sought treatment and majority opted Allopathic medicine. Waiting for the spontaneous conception was the major reason for not seeking treatment. Around 59% of the female participants availed health care facility and among male participants it was around 41%.  Conclusion: Infertility affects couples, rather than individual hence the burden is on the family. Among those who have consulted health care services, significant proportion of the male partners did not seek any treatment.