Women who have undergone extreme forms of genital cutting -- a practice sometimes referred to as female circumcision or female genital mutilation -- are more likely to be infertile than women who have not undergone female genital cutting, according to a study published in the July 30 issue of the journal Lancet, UPI/Washington Times reports (UPI/Washington Times, 7/28). Lars Almroth, a pediatrician and researcher at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues studied 99 infertile women and 180 pregnant women, all of whom were seen at one of two outpatient clinics in Khartoum, Sudan, in 2003 and 2004 (Reaney, Reuters AlertNet, 7/28). All of the women had undergone some form of genital cutting. After controlling for other fertility-related factors -- such as sexually transmitted disease, age, and social and economic situations -- the researchers found that women who were infertile were most likely to have undergone extreme forms of genital cutting, which some cultures in Africa and the Middle East perform as a way to reduce a young woman's libido and protect her future fertility (UPI/Washington Times, 7/28). According to the researchers, such infertility likely results from infection, inflammation or scarring resulting from genital cutting (Reuters AlertNet, 7/28). The researchers conclude that it is possible that female genital cutting can lead to primary infertility, which they say is "highly relevant" for advocacy groups that work to end the practice (Almroth et al., Lancet, 7/30). Female genital cutting is practiced in more than 30 countries, and Amnesty International estimates that about 135 million girls and women worldwide have undergone some form of the procedure (Reuters AlertNet, 7/28).