Evaluation of factors associated with the anxiety and depression of female infertility patients

Participants included 83 Japanese women who initially visited the Reproduction Center of the Tokyo Dental College Ichikawa General Hospital to undergo testing and receive infertility treatment between February and April 2008. We administered two psychological tests, the Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) test and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) test. We then examined the association of the test results with age, pregnancy and delivery history, employment status, duration of infertility, infertility treatment history, and male infertility.As patient age increased, total HADS and depression scores also increased. No correlation was observed between duration of infertility and SDS or HADS scores. Results were similar when the presence and absence of delivery history was compared. Patients who underwent infertility treatment were more likely to have high HADS depression scores compared to patients who had not undergone treatment. Additionally, patients whose husbands were infertile had significantly lower total HADS and anxiety scores than those whose husbands were not infertile.Age and male infertility are factors that influence the presence of anxiety and depression in female infertility patients.Infertility is defined as the inability to conceive after having unprotected intercourse for one year. In many cases, couples realize they are infertile only after attempting to become pregnant for some time. A healthy husband and wife must acknowledge that they may be infertile. The rate of infertility is high, at approximately 10%, and in many cases the cause is unclear. An increasing number of patients ultimately require assisted reproductive technology (ART), which is accompanied by physical and financial hardships [1].Mental stress, particularly anxiety and depression, resulting from infertility may be due to various factors, including uncertainty of the cause of infertility, uncertain treatment duration, financial stress, and pressure from others who kn