Psychological distress and fertility quality of life (FertiQoL) in infertile Korean women: The first validation study of Korean FertiQoL.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate psychological distress and fertility quality of life (FertiQoL) in infertile Korean women, and to investigate whether a correlation exists between psychological distress and FertiQoL.


METHODS
Participants in this study were made up of 141 infertile women and 65 fertile women. We conducted a survey on psychological distress (using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales [DASS]-42 questionnaire) and administered a FertiQoL questionnaire. The levels of stress hormones (adrenocorticotropic hormone [ACTH] and cortisol) in serum were assessed.


RESULTS
The scores for depression (13.7±8.4), anxiety (10.7±6.4), and stress (18.0±8.3) among the infertile women were significantly higher than the scores for depression (9.4±7.5), anxiety (6.6±6.0), and stress (12.2±8.3, p<0.001) among the fertile women. There was no difference in the scores for depression (13.5±8.2, 13.8±8.6), anxiety (10.0±6.2, 11.5±6.6) and stress (17.7±8.4, 18.4±8.1) between younger (≤34) and older (≥35) participants. The mind-body (r =-0.495) and emotional (r =-0.590) subscales showed a higher negative correlation with stress compared with other scales of psychological distress. At the same time, the social (r =-0.537) and relational (r =-0.385) subscales showed a higher negative correlation with depression. Levels of cortisol and ACTH in infertile women were 9.1 µg/mL and 11.9 pg/mL, respectively, which are within normal ranges.


CONCLUSIONS
The levels of psychological distress and quality of life in infertile Korean women seem to require psychological intervention. This study provides a baseline measurement of psychological distress and FertiQoL in infertile women in Korea, which will be available for developing psychological interventions for infertile Korean women.
IVF Center, Mizmedi Hospital, Seoul, Korea.; IVF Center, Mamapapa & Baby Clinic, Ulsan, Korea.
Hee-Jun
HJ
Chi
IVF Center, Mamapapa & Baby Clinic, Ulsan, Korea.
Il-Hae
IH
Park
IVF Center, Mamapapa & Baby Clinic, Ulsan, Korea.
Hong-Gil
HG
Sun
IVF Center, Mamapapa & Baby Clinic, Ulsan, Korea.
Jae-Won
JW
Kim
IVF Center, Mamapapa & Baby Clinic, Ulsan, Korea.
Kyeong-Ho
KH
Lee
Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-42; Fertility quality of life; Psychological distress
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