Association of depression and resilience with fertility quality of life among patients presenting to the infertility centre for treatment in Karachi, Pakistan

Abstract

Background In Pakistan there is a dire need to explore the quality of life in infertile males and females and its undesirable psychological outcomes. This, study aimed to compare the quality of life (QoL) of males and females visiting an infertility centre for treatment and to assess its association with resilience, depression, and other socio-demographic factors. Methods An Analytical Cross-Sectional study was conducted amongst infertile males and females at the Australian Concept Infertility Medical Centre (ACIMC), Karachi, Pakistan. The non-probability (purposive) sampling strategy was used to recruit the participants. The sample size was 668. Data was analysed using STATA version 12. FertiQoL tool, Beck II Depression Inventory Tool and Resilience Scale 14 (RS-14) were used for assessing the quality of life, depression and resilience respectively of infertile patients. Results Total 668 infertile patients, 334 males and 334 females participated in the study. The mean age was 35.53 ± 6.72, among males, and 30.87 ± 6.12 among females. The mean resilience scores were significantly higher among males, (77.64 ± 8.56), as compared to females (76.19 ± 8.69) (95% CI; − 2.757, − 0.1347). However, a significantly higher proportion of females were depressed (13.8%) as compared to males (6%). The mean QoL scores for the general health domain, emotional domain, mind and body domain, and relational domain, and the total QoL were significantly higher in males as compared to females (p value< 0.001); however, QoL for the social domain was not significantly different in both the groups. On multivariable linear regression resilience and depression among males had a significant association with QoL, after adjusting for the covariates educational status, monthly income, and number of friends. Similar association was observed among females after adjusting for the covariate monthly income only. Conclusion Fertility related QoL of men and women has a significant association with no formal education, number of friends, income, depression and resilience. Therefore, health care professionals in the field of infertility must be adequately trained to respond to the needs of individuals going through these psychological problems.

Dual mediating effects of social support and fertility stress on mindfulness and fertility quality of life in infertile men: A case-control study

“…Meanwhile，In this study, social support had a positive effect on the core and treatment modules of fertility quality of life. The results of numerous studies ( Schaller et al, 2016 ; Namdar et al, 2017 ; Maroufizadeh et al, 2018 ; Bhamani et al, 2020 ) have shown that social support is an important factor in the quality of life of male infertility patients. With full support from family, society, hospital, and partner, male infertility patients will be more positive in coping with the treatment process and overcoming their internal pain.…”

“…Further, infertile patients often perceive themselves as craving support from social network members ( High and Steuber, 2014 ). Most studies have shown that social support is an important factor affecting the quality of life of male infertility patients ( Schaller et al, 2016 ; Namdar et al, 2017 ; Maroufizadeh et al, 2018 ; Bhamani et al, 2020 ). With full support from family, society, hospital, and partners, male infertility patients will be more active in the treatment process and overcome their inner pain.…”

Cognitive behavioural therapy for women with infertility: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…In addition, a large cross-sectional study on 7352 women with infertility has shown that 56% of women with infertility reported significant symptoms of depression, and 76% of women reported significant symptoms of anxiety (Pasch et al, 2016). In turn, anxiety and depression not only lead to the failure of infertility treatment (Crawford et al, 2017;Rich & Domar, 2016) but also reduce their quality of life (Bhamani et al, 2020;Chaudhari et al, 2018), affect pregnancy outcome (Hosaka et al, 2002;Purewal et al, 2017)s, and even become a factor of suicide in infertile women (Shani et al, 2016). Thus, effective therapeutic interventions for infertile female patients are urgently required to address their physical and psychosocial problems.…”

University students' attitudes toward gender roles and infertility: A descriptive and correlational study

“…Social isolation is applied to the woman by her family and the woman can be threatened with divorce. At the end of this process, mental disorders and suicide can be seen more among women as compared with infertile men (Bhamani et al, 2020).…”