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. 2017 Feb;34(2):217-224.
doi: 10.1007/s10815-016-0844-8. Epub 2016 Nov 29.

Couples' discontinuation of fertility treatments: a longitudinal study on demographic, biomedical, and psychosocial risk factors

Juliana Pedro  1   2 , Maria Pedro Sobral  1 , Joana Mesquita-Guimarães  3 , Carla Leal  3 , Maria E Costa  1   2 , Mariana V Martins  4   5
Affiliations

Couples' discontinuation of fertility treatments: a longitudinal study on demographic, biomedical, and psychosocial risk factors

Juliana Pedro et al. J Assist Reprod Genet. 2017 Feb.

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to explore the role of infertility-psychosocial variables on treatment discontinuation after controlling for demographic and biomedical variables in couples seeking reimbursed fertility treatment.

Methods: A prospective study was conducted in 139 couples seeking fertility treatment. Between February 2010 and March 2011, participants completed measures of anxiety (STAI-State), depression (BDI-II), infertility-stress (FPI), and infertility coping strategies (COMPI-CSS). Medical data related to diagnosis, treatment, and discontinuation were collected in December 2013. A multiple logistic regression was performed to identify the predictors of discontinuation.

Results: The discontinuation rate was 29.5%. Female education level, engagement in ART procedures, and female causation decreased the likelihood of treatment discontinuation, whereas female age and depression increased the likelihood of discontinuation. Female depression was the strongest predictor in this model. The model correctly identified 75.5% of cases.

Conclusions: Female age and female depression are associated with a higher likelihood of treatment discontinuation in couples seeking treatment. Reproductive health professionals should therefore inform couples about the link between the fertility treatment discontinuation and both female age and female depression. Couples in which female partners present clinically relevant depression should be referred to a mental health professional to prevent premature abandonment of fertility treatments and thus increase success rates.

Keywords: Discontinuation; Dropout; Fertility treatments; Mental health.

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Conflict of interest statement

Compliance with ethical standards Declaration of interest statement The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Funding This study was supported by European Union Funds (FEDER/COMPETE—Operational Competitiveness Program) and by national funds (FCT—Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) under the projects PTDC/MHC-PSC/4195/2012 and SFRH/BPD/85789/2012. Conflict of interest statement The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Informed consent Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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