Prevalence of the Infertility Among Couples in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso): a Population-based Survey

Worldwide, 10 to 15% of couples are infertile. In Burkina Faso, there has never been a population-based prevalence study regarding infertility.

To determine the prevalence and risk factors of infertility in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso).

We conducted a cross-sectional study with prospective data collection on 480 households from March to May 2014 in Ouagadougou. In each household, both the men and the women of childbearing-age were interviewed by an investigator using a questionnaire. The main outcome was infertile men or women living in Ouagadougou.

The participant-reported infertility prevalence was 9.3% (95% CI: 7.0; 12.2) and 10.4% (95% CI: 7.9; 13.5) for men and women, respectively. The primary and secondary infertility prevalence rates were 4.8% (95% CI: 3.2; 7.2) and 4.4% (95% CI: 2.9; 6.7) respectively for men and 6.8% (95% CI: 4.8; 9.4) and 3.6% (95% CI: 2.2; 5.7) for women. Considering only infertile participants, primary infertility concerned 52.3% (95% CI: 37.2; 67.0) and 65.3% (95% CI: 50.6; 77.6) of men and women respectively.

The medically-diagnosed infertility prevalence was 2.9% (95% CI: 1.7; 4.9) in both men and women groups. The male and female-related infertility represented 35.7% (95% CI: 13.7; 66.0) and 42.9% (95% CI: 18.3; 71.6) of the cases respectively and the dual-factor-related infertility 21.4% (95% CI: 5.9; 54.0).

Though lower than the global and Sub-Sahara African region’s prevalence, the infertility prevalence in Ouagadougou was still high. Compared to previous data in the same country, we saw a shift from predominant secondary infertility to predominant primary one. Infections remained the leading cause of infertility.