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Review
. 2019 May 5;17(3):153-162.
doi: 10.18502/ijrm.v17i3.4514. eCollection 2019 Mar.

The comparison of depression and anxiety between fertile and infertile couples: A meta-analysis study

Hossein Fallahzadeh  1 , Hasan Zareei Mahmood Abadi  2 , Mahdieh Momayyezi  1 , Hakimeh Malaki Moghadam  3 , Naeimeh Keyghobadi  3
Affiliations
Review

The comparison of depression and anxiety between fertile and infertile couples: A meta-analysis study

Hossein Fallahzadeh et al. Int J Reprod Biomed. .

Abstract

Background: Depression and anxiety are the most common reaction in infertile couples. Several studies have been conducted to examine the psychiatric disorders among infertile and fertile couples.

Objective: This meta-analysis was conducted to compare the depression and anxiety in fertile and infertile couples in various studies.

Materials and methods: The authors searched articles published in multiple databases including World Health Organization, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Scopus, Science Direct, Medline EMBASE and Persian databases including Scientific Information Database (SID) and IranMedx between 2005 and 2017. The main keywords used for searching the databases were: depression, anxiety, infertility, and fertility. Statistical analyses were performed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis/2.0 software.

Results: The authors found 42 related articles after searching the databases. 11 articles entered the meta-analysis after considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Finally, eight articles were chosen for the comparison of depression and anxiety, two published articles for the comparison of depression, and one published article to compare anxiety in fertile and infertile couples. The results of the heterogeneity test showed a significant heterogeneity among all articles that were analyzed in this meta-analysis in the field of depression and anxiety. The results showed that depression (p = 0.0001; Hedges'g = 1.21; 95% CI 0.63-1.78) and anxiety (p = 0.00001; Hedges'g = 0.63; 95% CI 0.54-0.73) were higher in infertile couples than fertile couples and that the possibility of a publication bias does not exist in this study.

Conclusion: The analysis of articles used in this meta-analysis showed that depression and anxiety scores in infertile couples were higher than fertile couples.

Keywords: Anxiety; Infertility; Meta-analysis.; Depression.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of study selection
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot of the comparison of depression in fertile and infertile couples
Figure 3
Figure 3
Forest plot of the comparison of anxiety in fertile and infertile couples
Figure 4
Figure 4
Funnel plot of the comparison of anxiety in fertile and infertile couples
Figure 5
Figure 5
Funnel Plot of the comparison of depression in fertile and infertile couples
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. Noorbala Ahmad Ali, Ramezanzadeh Fatemeh, Abedinia Nasrin, Naghizadeh Mohammad Mehdi. Psychiatric disorders among infertile and fertile women. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. 2008;44(7):587–591. doi: 10.1007/s00127-008-0467-1. - DOI - PubMed
    1. 4. Younesi SJ, Salagegheh A. Body image in fertile and infertile women. J Reprod Fertil 2001; 2: 14-21.
    1. 5. Peyvandi S, Hosseini SH, Daneshpour MM, Mohammadpour RA, Qolami N. [The prevalence of depression, anxiety and marital satisfaction and related factors in infertile women referred to infertility clinics of Sari city in 2008.] J Mazandaran Univ Med Sci 2011; 20: 26-32. (In Persian)

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