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


METHODS
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.


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


METHODS
338 infertile women and 39 healthy women.


METHODS
None.


METHODS
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.
Domar
A D
AD
Mind/Body Medical Institute, New England Deaconess Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Broome
A
A
Zuttermeister
P C
PC
Seibel
M
M
Friedman
R
R
D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D013997:Time Factors