CDC Programs and Activities

CDC scientists published a White Paper which discussed why infertility is a public health concern. The White Paper’s contents, in part, reflect the scope of CDC programs and activities related to infertility prevention, detection and management. Key CDC programs and activities are listed below.

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) provides results from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) to include special reports on use of infertility services as well as trends in infertility and impaired fecundity.

NCHS also provided a means for extramural researchers to use CDC restricted datasets through itsResearch Data Center. Today, the Research Data Center can now provide access to data from the NSFG as well as the CDC National ART Surveillance System.

The National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) continues its work in the area of biomonitoring, an important aspect of understanding the potential influence of substances on human reproduction. NCEH scientists have found many colleagues working in laboratory settings also have an interest in the hormone standardization program, specifically for monitoring testosterone levels in humans.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) continues to assess the reproductive health effects of occupational exposures. The reproductive health program is described at NIOSH also studied the reproductive health of the adult children (men and women) of farm families exposed to Polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs).

The National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention also continues to invest in reducing the burden of STDs that may result in infertility as well as reaching key audiences to advance sexual health.

The National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) houses several programs of interest to stakeholders in the area of infertility. This includes programs in ARTsurveillance and reproductive health research hosted by the Division of Reproductive Health.

NCCDPHP’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control works on cancer prevention andsurvivorship, an important aspect related to fertility preservation. Recently, scientists reported on estimates of young breast cancer survivors at risk of infertility