used for this analysis. The NSFG is comprised of samples of the householdlevel population of women aged 15 to 44 years in the United States, collected by the National Center for Health Statistics. We used the measure of infertility as constructed by the NSFG, which defines married or cohabiting women as ''infertile'' if she has not conceived over a period of greater than a year of unprotected intercourse with a male spouse or cohabiting partner. We first examined the rates of infertility across subgroups of married or cohabiting women. We then performed bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models using the pooled sample (N¼14,208) to determine the effect of individual-level characteristics, including age, parity, PID treatment, education, income, race or ethnicity, and receipt of SRH services, on the odds of 12-month infertility among married or cohabiting women.RESULTS: The decline in infertility among married and cohabiting women from 7.0% in 2002 to 5.8% in 2010 is significant; the increases to 6.3% and 7.0% in 2013 and 2015 respectively, however, are not. This trend was present across nearly all subgroups. The multivariate model showed that women who were nulliparous, had fewer years of education, or were not receiving SRH services were more likely to be infertile.CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms that parity and education level continue to impact infertility. Further, the results demonstrate that access to SRH services plays an important role in infertility. In contrast to previous studies, infertility in the United States is no longer on the decline, and age, race, and ethnicity did not have significant impacts on infertility. Given the rise of STIs and the persistent lack of access to SRH services, particularly among already vulnerable groups, the connection between access to care and infertility is ripe for further investigation.
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