Infertility and psychiatric morbidity.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the relationship between psychiatric disorders and infertility.


METHODS
Case-control study.


METHODS
Fertile and infertile volunteer couples in an academic research setting.


METHODS
Eighty-one infertile couples recruited from an infertility center before fertility treatment and 70 fertile controls recruited from an obstetrics and gynecology clinic.


METHODS
None.


METHODS
The presence of Axis 1 psychiatric disorders.


RESULTS
The occurrence of current psychiatric disorders was significantly higher among infertile subjects than among fertile controls, especially for adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood (16% vs. 2%) and for binge eating disorder (8% vs. 0).


CONCLUSIONS
Our data highlight that a percentage of infertile patients have already developed a psychiatric disorder at the time of their first contact with a specialized fertility service. Possible applications are discussed, including the recommendation that gynecologists screen for clinical or subclinical psychiatric disorders in infertility patients and offer treatment accordingly.
Sbaragli
Chiara
C
Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry Division, University of Siena School of Medicine, Siena, Tuscany, Italy.
Morgante
Giuseppe
G
Goracci
Arianna
A
Hofkens
Tara
T
De Leo
Vincenzo
V
Castrogiovanni
Paolo
P
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007246:Infertility / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D027724:Reproductive Techniques, Assisted