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Learning the diagnosis of POF can be emotionally traumatic and difficult for women. The findings suggest that the manner in which patients are informed of this diagnosis can significantly impact their level of distress. Patients perceive a need for clinicians to spend more time with them and provide more information about POF.

Objective To examine factors associated with emotional well-being in women with spontaneous primary ovarian insufficiency Design Cross-sectional and case control Setting Clinical research center, national US health research facility Patient(s) Women diagnosed with spontaneous 46,XX primary ovarian insufficiency (N=100) at a mean age of 32.4 years and healthy control women of similar age (N=60) Intervention(s) Administration of validated self-reporting instruments Main Outcome Measure(s) Illness Uncertainty, Stigma, Goal Disengagement/Reengagement, Purpose in Life, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, Center of Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Result(s) Compared to controls, women with spontaneous primary ovarian insufficiency scored adversely on all measures of affect. Illness Uncertainty and Purpose in Life were significant independent factors associated with Anxiety (R2=0.47), Stigma and Purpose in Life were the significant independent factors associated with Depression (R2=0.51), and Goal Reengagement and Purpose in Life were significantly and independently associated with Positive Affect (R2=0.43). Conclusion(s) This evidence supports the need for prospective studies. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that clinicians could improve the emotional well-being of their patients with primary ovarian insufficiency by a) informing them better about their condition, b) helping them to feel less stigmatized by the disorder, and c) assisting them in developing alternative goals with regard to family planning as well as other goals.

Objective-To test the hypothesis that women with spontaneous primary ovarian insufficiency differ from control women with regard to perceived social support and to investigate the relationship between perceived social support and self-esteem. Design-Cross-sectionalSetting-Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center, National Institutes of Health.Patient(s)-Women diagnosed with spontaneous primary ovarian insufficiency (N=154) at a mean age of 27 years and healthy control women (N=63). Intervention(s)-Administration of validated self-reporting instruments.Main Outcome Measure(s)-Personal Resource Questionnaire-85 (PRQ85), Rosenberg SelfEsteem Scale Result(s)-Women with primary ovarian insufficiency had significantly lower scores than controls on the perceived social support scale and the self-esteem scale. The findings remained significant after modeling with multivariate regression for differences in age, marital status, and having children. In patients there was a significant positive correlation between self-esteem scores and perceived social support. We found no significant differences in perceived social support or self-esteem related to marital status, whether or not they had children, or time since diagnosis. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. CAPSULEStrategies to improve social support and self-esteem may reduce the emotional suffering that accompanies the life-altering diagnosis of spontaneous primary ovarian insufficiency. Further investigation is indicated. Conclusion(s)-This evidence supports the need for prospective controlled studies. Strategies to improve social support and self-esteem might provide a therapeutic approach to reduce the emotional suffering that accompanies the life-altering diagnosis of spontaneous primary ovarian insufficiency. NIH Public Access