Psychiatric morbidity and quality of life in infertile females: a cross-sectional, case-controlled hospital-based study

Abstract

BackgroundInfertility is a huge global problem with a significant mental health burden. Infertility could become a source of continuous stress leading to psychosocial issues including stress, anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem in these women. A cross-sectional, case-controlled study was conducted between January 2021 and November 2021 to study the effect of infertility on mental health and quality of life. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for sociodemographic and clinical variables. The Oslo Social Support Scale-3 and FertiQol were used to study social support and quality of life respectively. Psychiatric morbidity was assessed using ICD-10 symptom checklist. A total of 56 cases and 102 controls were studied.ResultsThe mean age of cases and controls was 30.4 ± 3.5 years and 31.9 ± 2.9 years, respectively. Young infertile females, primary infertility, and female factor for infertility were associated with higher psychiatric morbidity. Psychiatric morbidity was seen in 46.4% of infertile women. FertiQoL score for the infertile group was 64.61 ± 5 with the lowest score in the emotional domain (45.10) and mind-body domain (54.86) (p < 0.0001). The scores in the relational domain and social domain were higher (85.2 and 73.3, respectively). The scores in the mind-body domain and emotional domain were poor among the infertile women regardless of the presence of psychiatric morbidity (48.27 vs 59.80 and 43.57 vs 46.57) (p < 0.0001–0.04).ConclusionsOur study emphasizes the role of more qualitative instruments like FertiQoL in studying the well-being of infertile women. Even in the absence of psychiatric morbidity, the QoL score could still predict mental well-being in fertility-related issues.