Association of Anxiety and Depression with Infertility
Author(s): Sadia Chaudhary*, Nadia Liaqat, Romana Latif, Durdana Zafar, Muhammad Saqib Rabbani and Masooma Qayyum
Abstract
Introduction: Infertility is failure to get pregnant after twelve months or more of recurrent sexual contact without utilizing protected techniques. However, it is not a dangerous disease but a social issue affecting the person, his family as well as society. It is a stressful and unpleasant incident in married couples’ life and could cause psychological disorder, for example, depression and anxiety among both females and males. Objective: To know the association of anxiety and depression among infertile couples. Material and Methods: It was cross-sectional study (correlational) in which 140 couples actively trying for conception for 3 years visiting Hameed Latif Hospital Lahore were included. Non-probability purposive sampling technique was used. Informed consent was obtained from all the participants. Two proformas (HAM-A and HAM-D) to gauge anxiety and depression were given to each participant. Results: Among 140 couples, mean age was 31.6 ± 3.0 years. The mean age of female participants was 30.1 ± 2.8 and the mean age of male participants was 33.1 ± 2.4. Most (73.2%) of the participants were graduate or above. The overall mean score of anxiety measured by HAM-A questionnaire was 13.1 ± 10.1 with range from 0 to 42. The mean score of anxiety of male participants was 10.3 ± 9.4 and for female participants was 15.9 ± 10.1. The overall mean score of depression measured by HAM-D questionnaire was 12.2 ± 7.7 with range from 1 to 39. The mean score of depression of male participants was 10.1 ± 7.7 and for female participants was 14.4 ± 7.7. Conclusion: Study concluded that anxiety and depression was prevalent among infertile couples but females were more affected than males.