Immigrating to Quebec: the demographic challenges of a province experiencing low fertility

"This article focuses on the shifting population of Quebec, the cultural, social and political issues regarding the province's low fertility rate, and how these affect immigration policy."

Genetic epidemiological study of schizophrenia: reproduction behaviour

Data from the Tomsk Epidemiological Register and epidemiological family sample were used to study the relationship between schizophrenics' reproductive behaviour (marital status and fertility rate), severity of ICD-9 schizophrenia and risk of illness among relatives of probands. The results are interpreted in terms of multifactorial threshold and single monolocus models. Their importance for the interpretation of epidemiological data (a change of prevalence rate, cohort effect and clinical polymorphism) is discussed.

The risks of reproductive impairment in the later years of childbearing

A notable feature of the present baby bust in the United States is that substantial proportions of women are delaying much of their childbearing until relatively late in their reproductive lives. One concern about this delayed childbearing is that many women may end up either childless or with fewer children than they desire, owing to reproductive impairment. This paper reviews evidence concerning the decline of reproductive ability with age. The findings can be distilled into two main facts. First, the proportion of women with low reproductive ability increases steadily from age 15 to age 50. Second, this rise is moderate until the mid-30s when it begins to increase mores harply. While the current consensus is that most healthy women in their late thirties have a good prospect of giving birth to a healthy infant, a substantial minority of postponers will end up childless or with fewer children than they desire, due to reproductive impairment as well as to social causes.

Limits and possibilities relating to family structure and care of the aged in populations with unprecedentedly low fertility

"While demographic conditions need not necessarily be prime determinants of the quality of people's lives, there can be no doubt that they determine the limits of that quality. This paper discusses these limits with reference to family and kinship structure, and particularly the wellbeing of the elderly, in European populations (both in Europe and overseas) currently subject to especially high rates of ageing as a result, primarily, of unprecedentedly low fertility. Emphasis is placed on the fact of heterogeneity within populations, the great variety of possible social responses to human needs and demographic conditions, and the fact that the future is fraught with uncertainty, despite the degree of ineluctability associated with certain demographic processes." Comparative data for Australia are presented.

Recent trends in fertility and family formation

"Australia's fertility has declined significantly since the 1950s, and has remained below the long-term replacement level since 1976. The current trend appears to be towards a further decline. This paper describes the patterns of the fertility decline in terms of age and parity of the mother, and the effect on recent fertility decline of the postponement of marriage and family formation. The implications of the continued decline in fertility on completed family size are studied by reference to fertility patterns of marriage cohorts."

Results of planned in-vitro fertilization programming through the pre-administration of the oestrogen-progesterone combined pill

The use of an oestrogen-progesterone combined pill permits the induction of ovulation in the absence of any developing follicle. Two treatments were compared. In the first, patients received no prior treatment before stimulation. In the second, combined oestrogen-progesterone treatment was given during approximately two menstrual cycles prior to stimulation. No differences between the two groups were found in relation to oocyte maturity, fertilization in vitro, cleavage, replacement and pregnancy. Fewer luteinizing hormone surges occurred in patients pre-treated with steroids. The utilization of the oestrogen-progesterone combined pill prior to induction of ovulation facilitates the forward planning of patients for in-vitro fertilization.

[Quebec's population decline: if it is foreseeable, is it avoidable?]

"Quebec's fertility is the lowest in Canada, and it is most likely that its population is heading for a decline. In this paper, the authors try to make explicit some of the scenarios which could prevent this decline. They first briefly present the current trends and specify the assumptions used in the simulation. Then, they analyse the results by investigating the onset of the decline and the maximum size of the population. And finally, they present some of the replacement scenarios which may prevent the decline." (SUMMARY IN ENG AND SPA)

Nutritional status and age at secondary sterility in rural Bangladesh

In a prospective study of 2324 women in Matlab, Bangladesh, the occurrence of primary and secondary sterility by age groups was examined. The results were related to the nutritional status of the women, as assessed by measurements of height, weight, arm circumference and ponderal index. There is evidence that nutritional status is an important factor in estimated age at sterility, with thinner women experiencing a slightly earlier menopause.

Demographic and endocrinological aspects of low natural fertility in Highland New Guinea

The Gainj of highland Papua New Guinea do not use contraception but have a total fertility rate of only 4·3 live births per woman, one of the lowest ever recorded in a natural fertility setting. From an analysis of cross-sectional demographic and endocrinological data, the causes of low reproductive output have been identified in women of this population as: late menarche and marriage, a long interval between marriage and first birth, a high probability of widowhood at later reproductive ages, low effective fecundability and prolonged lactational amenorrhoea. These are combined with near-universal marriage, a low prevalence of primary sterility and a pattern of onset of secondary sterility similar to that found in other populations. Of all the factors limiting fertility, by far the most important are those involved in birth spacing, especially lactational amenorrhoea.