Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To determine the prevalence, severity, and predictability of depression in infertile women compared with a control sample of healthy women.

DESIGN:

Subjects were assessed while waiting to see their physician: infertility patients before a visit with an infertility specialist and control subjects before seeing either a gynecologist or internist for a routine gynecological examination. Subjects completed a demographic form and two depression scales.

SETTING:

A group infertility practice affiliated with an academic medical center, a hospital-based gynecology practice, and a health maintenance organization internal medicine clinic.

PARTICIPANTS:

338 infertile women and 39 healthy women.

INTERVENTIONS:

None.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:

The Beck Depression Inventory and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale.

RESULTS:

The infertile women had significantly higher depression scores and twice the prevalence of depression than the controls; women with a 2- to 3-year history of infertility had significantly higher depression scores compared with women with infertility durations of < 1 year or > 6 years; women with an identified causative factor for their infertility had significantly higher depression scores than women with unexplained or undiagnosed infertility.

CONCLUSIONS:

Depressive symptoms are common in infertile women. Psychological interventions aimed at reducing depressive symptoms need to be implemented, especially for women with a definitive diagnosis and for those with durations of 2 to 3 years of infertility.