Abstract
Background: Infertility can have an extravagated impact on the psychological wellbeing of the couple and subsequently affect the marital relationship and the quality of life. Objective: To screen for depression in infertile female attending infertility clinic and to determine the severity of depression in relation to duration of infertility and other socio-demographic characteristics in an Egyptian setting. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted from June 2014 to December 2014 in the infertility clinic in Kasr Al-Ainy hospital. Three hundred infertile females were screened for depression using the Arabic version of the Patient Heath Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Results: According to (PHQ-9), 62.3% of the studied infertile females suffer from moderate to severe depression. The score of PHQ-9 was inversely proportionate to both the duration of marriage (P value=0.038, person correlation:-0.12) and duration of infertility (P value=0.025, person correlation: -0.13) and was directly proportionate to age of studied females (P value =0.032, person correlation: 0.124), their educational level (P value =0.000, person correlation: 0.312) and number of trial of assisted reproductive technique (P value=0.001, person correlation: 0.189), and these data were statistically significant. Conclusion: A large percentage of Egyptian infertile females suffer from depression. And this highlights the challenging need for providing individualized bio-psychosocial care for all infertile Egyptian females.
Highlights
Infertility is considered a public health issue worldwide affecting 3.5% to 16.7% of the childbearing population in developed countries and 6.9% to 9.3% in less-developed countries [1]
Infertility is of particular concern in Africa as human reproduction is highly valued in African societies
According to (PHQ-9) 6% of the studied infertile females were severely depressed and 21% of them suffered from moderate severe depression (Figure 1)
Summary
Infertility is considered a public health issue worldwide affecting 3.5% to 16.7% of the childbearing population in developed countries and 6.9% to 9.3% in less-developed countries [1]. Motherhood in Africa is often the only way for women to enhance their status within their family and community. The stigma of childlessness places the infertile women at risk of serious social and emotional consequences [3]. Infertility can have an extravagated impact on the psychological wellbeing of the couple and subsequently affect the marital relationship and the quality of life. Three hundred infertile females were screened for depression using the Arabic version of the Patient Heath Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Results: According to (PHQ-9), 62.3% of the studied infertile females suffer from moderate to severe depression. The score of PHQ-9 was inversely proportionate to both the duration of marriage (P value=0.038, person correlation:-0.12) and duration of infertility
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