Biochemist Says Irregular Menstrual Cycles Cause Female Infertility

A Professor of Biochemistry, Prof. Samuel Oladimeji said irregular menstrual cycles and anovulatory disorders were the most common cause of female infertility.

Oladimeji, lecturer at Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Lagos State University (LASU said this at the 81st inaugural lecture of LASU on Monday in Lagos.

The theme of the 81st Inaugural Lecture: “A Delicate Romance of Macromolecules of Immune Moiety, Biochemical Factors and Hormonal Indices That Guarantee Posterity”.

He said that the anovulatory disorder has been classified into four major groups by WHO which was associated with the levels of some hormones such as prolactin, estrogen, progesterone, and luteinizing hormone.

“Hormones and inflammatory mechanisms are implicated in the major events of female reproductive function which includes; ovulation, menstruation, embryo implantation, and pregnancy.

“The hormonal cause of infertility in females involves both the disorder of the reproductive system, non-reproductive endocrine glands, and non-endocrine organs,” Oladimeji said.

He identified as reproduction was a fundamental feature of all known life; each individual organism exists as the result of reproduction inferring their posterity.

“Autoimmune disease or dysfunction play a role up to 10 percent of recurrent pregnancy loss.

“Anti-thyroid antibodies have been reported in apparently healthy populations and are observed more frequently in women during their reproductive years.

“Infertility in women is the ability of women of childbearing age to get pregnant after about 12 months of regular unprotected sexual intercourse,” Oladimeji said.

He noted that a lot of effort had been expended on female infertility than on their male counterpart, all because it was the female who bear the brunt of the problem of infertility.

“It is estimated that worldwide between 10 and 20 percent of marriages are childless as a result of female infertility.

“The male factor has been found to be the significant factor in approximately 40 percent of cases and an important contributing factor in another 20 percent.

“Evaluation of the barren married couple is not complete without an exploration of the malefactor, and one of such factors is hyperprolactinemia,” Oladimeji said.

He recommended that investigation of primary infertile wen should be matched with that of the antibodies of thyroglobulin and anti-thyroperoxidase levels beside the assessment of the other hormonal profile that should be done.