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. 2013 May 1;42(5):458-66.
Print 2013.

Prevalence of Depression among Infertile Couples in Iran: A Meta-Analysis Study

Seyyedeh Zahra Masoumi  1 , Jalal Poorolajal, Afsaneh Keramat, Seyyed Abbas Moosavi
Affiliations

Prevalence of Depression among Infertile Couples in Iran: A Meta-Analysis Study

Seyyedeh Zahra Masoumi et al. Iran J Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Several studies have been conducted in Iran in order to investigate the prevalence of depression among infertile couples. However, there is a remarkable diversity among the results. This meta-analysis was conducted to estimate an overall prevalence rate of depression among infertile couples in Iran.

Methods: International and national electronic databases were searched up to June 2011 including MEDLINE, Science Citation Index Expanded, Scopus, SID, MagIran, and IranMedex as well as conference databases. Furthermore, reference lists of articles were screened and the studies' authors were contacted for additional references. Cross-sectional studies addressing the prevalence of depression among infertile couples were included in this meta-analysis. We assessed 12 separate studies involving overall 2818 participants of which 1251 had depression.

Results: Overall prevalence rate of depression among infertile couples was 0.47 (95% CI: 0.40, 0.55). The prevalence rate of depression was 0.44 (95% CI: 0.32, 0.56) during 2000 to 2005 and 0.50 (95% CI: 0.43, 0.57 during 2006 to 2011. The prevalence rate of depression was 0.46 (95% CI: 0.39, 0.53) among women and 0.47 (95% CI: 0.40, 0.54) among men.

Conclusion: Not only the prevalence of depression in infertile couples was high but also had increasing growth in recent years. Furthermore, despite many studies conducted addressing the prevalence of depression in infertile couples, there is however a remarkable diversity between the results. Thus, one can hardly give a precise estimation of the prevalence rate of depression among infertile couples in Iran now.

Keywords: Cross-sectional; Depression; Infertility; Iran; Meta-analysis; Prevalence; Sterility.

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Figures

Fig. 1:
Fig. 1:
Flow diagram of the progress through the phases of meta-analysis
Fig. 2:
Fig. 2:
Forest plot of prevalence rate of depression among infertile couples by year
Fig. 3:
Fig. 3:
Forest plot of prevalence rate of depression among infertile couples by sex
Fig. 4:
Fig. 4:
Funnel plot for assessing publication bias in the included studies
Fig. 5:
Fig. 5:
Forest plot of cumulative meta-analysis for estimating the prevalence rate of depression among infertile couples
Fig. 6:
Fig. 6:
Risk of bias indicating the review authors’ judgments about each risk of bias item for each included study
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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