Reproductive Ageing

This book is based on the RCOG Study Group findings on reproductive ageing.

Welcomed as liberation and dismissed as exploitation, egg freezing (oocyte cryopreservation) has rapidly become one of the most widely-discussed and influential new reproductive technologies of this century. In Freezing Fertility, Lucy van de Wiel takes us inside the world of fertility preservation—with its egg freezing parties, contested age limits, proactive anticipations and equity investments—and shows how the popularization of egg freezing has profound consequences for the way in which female fertility and reproductive aging are understood, commercialized and politicized. Beyond an individual reproductive choice for people who may want to have children later in life, Freezing Fertility explores how the rise of egg freezing also reveals broader cultural, political and economic negotiations about reproductive politics, gender inequities, age normativities and the financialization of healthcare. Van de Wiel investigates these issues by analyzing a wide range of sources—varying from sparkly online platforms to heart-breaking court cases and intimate autobiographical accounts—that are emblematic of each stage of the egg freezing procedure. By following the egg’s journey, Freezing Fertility examines how contemporary egg freezing practices both reflect broader social, regulatory and economic power asymmetries and repoliticize fertility and aging in ways that affect the public at large. In doing so, the book explores how the possibility of egg freezing shifts our relation to the beginning and end of life.

When Reproduction meets Ageing questions the nature of reproductive ageing and reproductive biomedicine.

This iis a clinical reference by leading authorities on the mechanisms causing reproductive aging in the female. It contains the information on infertility problems caused by the age-related decrease in fecundity and documents, also, recent developments in the recognition and management of age-related infertility in clinical practice.

Interest in sexuality and reproductive function does not cease when people begin to age. Instead, a new set of questions arises. Women want to know if it is safe to have babies in their late thirties and early forties. They want to know more about hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause-which ones are dangerous and which are merely uncomfortable. They are eager to learn about the relative risks and benefits of estrogen replacement therapy. Men, too, are concerned about age-related changes in their sexual function. Experts in reproductive physiology, gerontology, and genetics met at the National Institutes of Health in June of 1984 to discuss these and other concerns about aging and the reproductive system. The conference on Aging, Reproduc tion, and the Climacteric was sponsored by the American Fertility Society, The National Institute on Aging, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. This volume is based on the proceedings of that confer ence.

In consultation with Consulting Editor Dr. William Rayburn, Dr. Santor and Dr. Kravitz have put together an issue that comprehensively covers age-related changes in women. Their authors, from well-respected institutions, have contributed review articles on the following topics: Declining fertility with reproductive aging: How to protect your patient’s fertility by knowing the milestones; Onset of the transition into menopause: What are the earliest signs; Menstrual cycle changes as women approach the final menses: What matters; Menstrual cycle hormone changes and how they may link to symptoms; Symptom progression across the transition: Not all women are created equal; Cardiovascular implications of vasomotor symptoms and the menopausal transition; Depression and perimenopause :Hormones, genetics and environmental determinants of disease; Sleep, health, and metabolism: Food for thought; Bone health during the menopausal transition and beyond; Sexuality in midlife and beyond; Physical function –moving and aging; Genitourinary changes with aging; and Cognitive changes with reproductive aging, perimenopause, and menopause. Readers will come away with the latest clinical information they need to treat these patients and improve outcomes.