What causes genetic infertility in women?
Many women are unable to conceive and deliver a healthy baby due to genetic factors as a result of inherited chromosome abnormalities or single-gene defects.
If one or both of the prospective parents carry a chromosomal abnormality, infertility may occur. Genetic issue may also be passed on to the baby and cause miscarriage because chromosomally abnormal embryos have a low rate of implantation. If an abnormal embryo does implant, the baby may be born with physical, mental or developmental problems.
Missing chromosomes, inverted chromosomes, mutation of DNA sequence are some of the genetic abnormalities that can result in infertility.
The most common genetic cause of infertility is when pieces of one chromosome attach to the wrong chromosome (translocation). Parents can be healthy normal carriers of an abnormality but if the embryo receive too much or too little genetic material, a miscarriage may occur.
Symptoms of genetic causes of infertility in women
- Primary amenorrhea (woman has never menstruated)
- Secondary amenorrhea (woman has not menstruated in past six months and is not menopausal)
- Slow sexual development syndrome
- Recurrent miscarriage
Treatment for genetic causes of infertility in women
Genetic abnormalities that cause infertility in women rarely exhibit outward symptoms and can typically only be diagnosed by genetic testing of blood samples. While not curable, these chromosome abnormalities in one or both prospective parents do allow for genetic counselling and accurate assessment of the chances of having a successful pregnancy through Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) and in vitro fertilization (IVF) or other assisted reproductive technologies.
