Quality of life in women of reproductive age: a comparative study of infertile and fertile women in a Nigerian tertiary centre

Abstract

The study examined the quality of life in women of reproductive age and the aim was to evaluate and compare the quality of life (QoL) scores among fertile and infertile women. A cross-sectional study was carried out among women attending the Gynaecology and Postnatal Clinics of Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital comparing their QoL using the World Health Organisation Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire. The age of fertile women was significantly higher than the age of infertile women (p < .05), while a significantly higher proportion of the infertile and fertile women and their spouses were civil servants (p < .05). Infertile women obtained significantly higher scores than fertile women in the physical domain (QoL) and significantly lower scores than fertile women in the social domain (QoL), (p < .05). Among the infertile women, those with secondary infertility had significantly better overall QoL scores, (p < .05). Logistic regression showed that infertility and unemployment in women were associated with significantly lower QoL scores in psychological and social domains (p < .05). The quality of life is significantly lower among infertile women compared to fertile ones and this should be borne in mind when attending to these women. Impact statement What is already known on this subject: Infertility has been shown to be associated with poor quality of life. Most of these studies were conducted in developed countries. What the results of this study add: The findings of this study revealed that women who were infertile had low quality of life scores compared to the fertile ones in physical, social and psychological domains. What the implications are of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research: A community-based and multicultural study involving more participants may shed more light on this topic in future research. Counselling sessions should be incorporated as part of the holistic approach in the day-to-day management of the infertile women.

Keywords: Nigeria; Quality of life; fertile women; infertile women; tertiary centre.