Quality of Life in Infertile Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: a Comparative Study

Abstract

To investigate the quality of life (QoL) of infertile women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and analyze the association between the clinical/biochemical features of PCOS and the physical/psychological well-being of patients. An observational study with three independent groups women was designed including 37 infertile PCOS patients, 36 women with tubal factor infertility, and 31 women with male factor infertility referred to the Reproductive Medicine Unit of the Hospital Clinic Barcelona from December 2017 to June 2019. Clinical history, physical examination including Ferriman-Gallwey scores, and vaginal ultrasound were carried out in all patients. All subjects completed the 36-item Short Form Health Survey, and PCOS patients were asked to fill out the Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Questionnaire. The IBM SPSS 23.0 was used for the statistical analysis. Infertile women with PCOS reported significantly worse QoL scores of social functioning (p = 0.049), emotional role functioning (p = 0.041), mental health (p = 0.002), and the mental component summary (p = 0.002) compared with women with other causes of infertility. In addition, body pain (p = 0.006), general health (p < 0.001), and vitality (p = 0.002) scores were significantly lower in women with PCOS compared with those with male factor infertility. Infertile PCOS patients showed low scores in all domains of the PCOSQ. Hirsutism and weight gain were the factors most associated with impaired health-related QoL in PCOS. Infertile PCOS women presented worse QoL mainly due to psychological and emotional distress. The main predictors were clinical manifestations of hyperandrogenism and weight gain.

Keywords: Hirsutism; Hyperandrogenemia; Infertility; PCOS; PCOSQ, SF-36; Quality of life.