Objective: To determine the psychological impact of infertility among women of reproductive age in terms of anxiety and depression at a tertiary care Hospital. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Bilawal Medical College, LUMHS Jamshoro, from February 2023 to June 2023. The study included infertile women aged 20 to 45 years who presented with a diagnosis of primary infertility at the Gynecology and Obstetrics OPD of BMC. Participants were assessed for psychological status using the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Finding were analyzed for prevalence and severity of anxiety and depression among infertile women. All the information was entered analyzed using SPSS version 26. Results: Overall average age of the patients was 29.79+5 years. Most of the women experienced mild (69.8%) or moderate (22.2%) anxiety symptoms, with only 3 (4.8%) reporting severe anxiety. Likewise, all the women found with varying degrees of depression, mostly moderate (34.9%), moderately severe (36.5%), mild (25.4%) and severe (3.2%). Furthermore, the anxiety found significantly associated with level of education and occupational status (p=0.001), while there was no significant correlation found with socioeconomic status and age of women (p=>0.05). However, the depression was insignificantly associated with age, educational level, occupational status socioeconomic status (p=>0.05). Conclusion: There was a higher prevalence of anxiety and depression observed among infertile women, indicating a significant impact of infertility on psychological well-being during reproductive age, highlighting the need for combined psychological support with treatment of infertility.
Balouch et al. (Sun,) studied this question.