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. 2011 Jul;73(1):87-94.
doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.04.023. Epub 2011 May 20.

Infertility treatment and fertility-specific distress: A longitudinal analysis of a population-based sample of U.S. women

Arthur L Greil  1 , Julia McQuillan, Michele Lowry, Karina M Shreffler
Affiliations

Infertility treatment and fertility-specific distress: A longitudinal analysis of a population-based sample of U.S. women

Arthur L Greil et al. Soc Sci Med. 2011 Jul.

Abstract

Because research on infertile women usually uses clinic-based samples of treatment seekers, it is difficult to sort out to what extent distress is the result of the condition of infertility itself and to what extent it is a consequence of the experience of infertility treatment. We use the National Survey of Fertility Barriers, a two-wave national probability sample of U.S. women, to disentangle the effects of infertility and infertility treatment on fertility-specific distress. Using a series of ANOVAs, we examine 266 infertile women who experienced infertility both at Wave 1 and at Wave 2, three years later. We compare eight groups of infertile women based on whether or not they have received treatment and on whether or not they have had a live birth. At Wave 1, infertile women who did not receive treatment and who had no live birth reported lower distress levels than women who received treatment at Wave 1 only, regardless of whether their infertility episode was followed by a live birth. At Wave 2, women who received no treatment have significantly lower fertility-specific distress than women who were treated at Wave 1 or at Waves 1 and 2, regardless of whether there was a subsequent live birth. Furthermore, fertility-specific distress did not increase over time among infertile women who did not receive treatment. The increase infertility-specific distress was significantly higher for women who received treatment at Wave 2 that was not followed by a live birth than for women who received no treatment or for women who received treatment at Wave 1 only. These patterns suggest that infertility treatment is associated with levels of distress over and above those associated with the state of being infertile in and of itself.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Average FSD by wave and treatment/birth outcome.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Wave 2 FSD-Wave 1 FSD within-person average change.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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