Fertility tests can help identify potential issues with fertility in both males and females. Tests may include ultrasounds, blood tests, or semen samples.

Fertility is a measure of your natural ability to have a baby. Higher fertility means you have a greater chance of becoming pregnant or inducing pregnancy in someone else.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 15.4% of women and 11.4% of men ages 15 to 49 years in the United States have impaired fertility, which can impact their natural ability to have children.

Both males and females can have fertility problems. In heterosexual couples trying to conceive, around 30% to 40% of infertility cases are caused by fertility issues in both people.

If you and a partner are having difficulty becoming pregnant, doctors recommend that you both get tested for possible fertility problems.

Testing can help them identify potential problems and develop an appropriate plan to help maximize your ability to have children.

Keep reading to learn more about the types of fertility tests available for females and males and who may benefit from testing.

Disclaimer language

The use of binary terms such as “male” and “female” or “men” and “women” in this article reflects the language of the sources we’ve used. Unless otherwise noted, it’s unclear whether the research we reference included participants with expansive gender identities.

Female infertility may be caused by any condition or hormonal imbalance that affects the female reproductive organs, including the ovaries, fallopian tubes, or uterus.

Healthcare professionals recommend ovarian reserve testing for females experiencing difficulty becoming pregnant. This may involve a combination of blood tests and an ultrasound to assess the quantity of ovarian eggs you have.

Test results are compared to those of other females your age to assess for diminished ovarian reserve, which is a low count of high quality eggs. A lower number of ovarian eggs is linked with a decreased chance of becoming naturally pregnant.

Here are the main types of tests you may receive:

Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) test

Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is produced in your ovarian follicles, which are the tiny sacs that contain and release eggs.

AMH levels strongly correlate with the number of growing follicles and available eggs in your ovaries (ovarian reserve). AMH is measured with a blood test.

While AMH testing provides doctors with useful information for females experiencing difficulty becoming pregnant, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) doesn’t recommend regular AMH testing for those who aren’t infertile.

Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and Luteinizing hormone (LH) tests

FSH and LH are two hormones produced by your anterior pituitary gland, a small gland at the base of your brain. They stimulate the growth of follicles in your ovaries.

Levels of these hormones tend to fluctuate through the menstrual cycle, and high levels can indicate reduced ovarian function.

FSH and LH are both required for proper follicular growth, but irregularities in their levels can help identify problems with fertility, menstruation, and pituitary gland disorders.

Other blood tests

Your doctor may want to assess other hormone markers in your blood, such as:

Antral Follicle Count (AFC)

Antral follicle count (AFC) measures the number of follicles that contain immature eggs in your ovaries. It can provide an estimate of your ovarian reserve.

An AFC test is performed with a transvaginal ultrasound of your pelvic area. It’s typically painless and creates an image inside your ovaries that a healthcare professional can interpret.

Male fertility can be affected by any condition that impacts semen or sperm. Here are the most common fertility tests for males:

Semen analysis

Sperm are the cells in semen that bind with an ovarian egg to create a pregnancy. Semen is a combination of sperm and all the fluid and nutrients that sperm need to survive, and is what you see when you ejaculate.

To measure male fertility, healthcare professionals perform a semen analysis to look at many aspects of semen and sperm health, including:

  • sperm volume
  • sperm concentration, count, motility, and morphology
  • the presence of antibodies that indicate your body is attacking sperm
  • liquefaction, a measure of how quickly your semen changes from gel to liquid

Even though sperm are responsible for fertilizing an egg, problems with semen can affect the survival or mobility of your sperm.

Sperm DNA fragmentation

Sperm DNA fragmentation looks for damage to the DNA of sperm cells. Damage to the DNA of sperm can lower the chances that a sperm fertilizes an ovarian egg, and therefore reduce the chance of pregnancy.

Many techniques can be used to analyze the DNA of your sperm, and they all involve donating a semen sample for analysis.

Hormonal tests

In some cases, a healthcare professional may order several hormonal tests if you have a low sperm count and other tests suggest you may have an endocrine condition.

An endocrine test panel assesses the levels of some hormones that may contribute to male infertility, including:

Imaging tests

In some cases, a healthcare professional may order imaging tests to identify underlying health conditions that may be causing infertility. These tests may include:

Consider speaking with a primary care doctor if you and someone else haven’t been able to conceive after having frequent sex without a condom or other barrier method for over 1 year.

You may also wish to speak with a doctor about fertility testing if:

  • you’re a female over age 36 years
  • you’re planning on having children soon
  • you have received treatment for certain health conditions, such as cancer
  • you have known genetic conditions that may impact reproductive success

Many common infertility tests, such as blood tests and ultrasounds, are done in a doctor’s office or clinic.

For some tests, such as a semen analysis, a doctor will usually ask you to provide a sample of your semen, which can be done at home and then brought into the clinic for analysis.

All these tests are usually painless, but it’s common for people to feel nervous around needles for blood tests.

A doctor can provide you with more specific guidance on how to prepare for a fertility test and what you can expect during it.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved several at-home fertility tests for males and females. Some of these tests can provide your results immediately, whereas others require mailing them to a lab for analysis.

If you’re female, consider using a fertility monitor to detect when you’re about to ovulate. This is the period in your menstrual cycle when you’re most fertile and likely to get pregnant.

Before using one of these tests, it’s important to speak with a doctor to better understand their accuracy and how to interpret the results.

The results of fertility tests need to be interpreted with caution since no one blood marker is a perfect marker of fertility. Some doctors have raised concerns that at-home tests could cause unnecessary worry in some people.

Fertility tests can help identify problems with fertility, such as hormonal imbalances, low egg count, or poor semen quality. In some cases, the results can help your doctor advise the best action to improve your chances of having children.

It’s essential to review the results of your fertility tests with a trained medical professional, as understanding what your results mean can be challenging and requires proper context.