Abstract
Objective: To explore the distribution of time to pregnancy in a Chinese
population based on a cross-sectional design. Design: A cross-sectional
population-based study. Setting: 8 provinces/municipalities in China
between 2010 and 2011. Population or Sample: 25,270 couples aged 20-49
years. Methods: Multistage stratified cluster sampling strategy was
utilized to recruit participants from each stratum by district,
province/municipality, town/township, and village/street order. Main
Outcome Measures: Time to diagnose pregnancy from 17,275 couples “at
risk for pregnancy”. Results: In 7,889 couples eligible for analysis,
the mean time to pregnancy was 17.2 months (standard deviation, 22.7)
with a median of 9 months (25–75th percentile, 3–20 months). Women
aged 20–24 years had the highest percentage of pregnancy at 3, 6, 12,
and 24 months (23.9%, 42.5%, 58.5%, and 80.4%, respectively).
Furthermore, 55.8% (3,413/6,116) and 79.9% (4,885/6,116) of women aged
<35 years conceived within 1 year and 2 years, respectively,
and the percentage increased by only 8.4% (5,399/6,116, 88.8%) in the
third year. Only 30.6% (186/607) and 50.6% (307/607) of women aged ≥35
years conceived within 1 year and 2 years, respectively. Risk factors
associated with time to pregnancy were older age, lower educational
attainment of couples, higher annual household income, toxic exposure in
men, shorter duration of cohabitation, longer menstrual cycle interval,
history of abnormal pregnancy, and nullipara. Conclusions: Our study
provides a comprehensive estimation of the time to diagnose pregnancy
among Chinese couples of reproductive age, providing important
information for policy makers, fertility clinicians, and sexual health
educators.