Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Dec 14;15(12):e0242024.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242024. eCollection 2020.

The effect of psychological distress on IVF outcomes: Reality or speculations?

Gulzhanat Aimagambetova  1 , Alpamys Issanov  2 , Sanja Terzic  2 , Gauri Bapayeva  3 , Talshyn Ukybassova  3 , Saltanat Baikoshkarova  4 , Aidana Aldiyarova  3 , Fariza Shauyen  3 , Milan Terzic  2   3   5
Affiliations

The effect of psychological distress on IVF outcomes: Reality or speculations?

Gulzhanat Aimagambetova et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Introduction: Infertility is a problem that affects millions of people worldwide. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of stress, depression and anxiety on the IVF outcomes in Kazakhstan.

Methods: The prospective cohort study was performed using questionnaires to assess psychological distress in 304 infertile female in three different cities in Kazakhstan.

Results: The average age of participants was 33.7 years with infertility duration of 5.9 years. Regarding stress, depression and anxiety we found that more than 80% of all respondents had CES-D score higher than 16, indicating that they are at risk of developing clinical depression. On average, FPI subscales' scores, global stress score and anxiety scale (STAI-S and STAI-T) scores were statistically significantly higher among not pregnant women than pregnant women. Similarly, in simple logistic regression analysis all FPI subscales scores, global stress scale score and anxiety scales' scores were negatively associated with clinical pregnancy.

Conclusion: Rates of stress, anxiety and depression among IVF patients are higher than in general population. If the level of infertility-related stress is higher, IVF success rate is lower. Findings of our study indicate the need for the specific psychological interventions for all infertility women, to improve IVF success rate.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have read the journal’s policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: SB is a paid employee of Ecomed. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

References

    1. Practice Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Electronic address: asrm@asrm.org. Definitions of infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss: a committee opinion. Fertil steril. 2020;113(3):533–5. 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2019.11.025 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Vander Borght M, Wyns C. Fertility and infertility: Definition and epidemiology. Clin Biochem. 2018;62:2–10. 10.1016/j.clinbiochem.2018.03.012 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Infertility Workup for the Women’s Health Specialist: ACOG Committee Opinion, Number 781. Obstet Gynecol. 2019;133(6):e377–e384. 10.1097/AOG.0000000000003271 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Maroufizadeh S, Navid B, Omani-Samani R, Amini P. The effects of depression, anxiety and stress symptoms on the clinical pregnancy rate in women undergoing IVF treatment. BMC Res Notes. 2019;12(1):256 10.1186/s13104-019-4294-0 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sapolsky RM. Stress and the brain: individual variability and the inverted-U. Nat Neurosci. 2015;18(10):1344–1346. 10.1038/nn.4109 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms