Risk of postnatal depression or suicide after in vitro fertilisation treatment: a nationwide case–control study

Abstract

Results: Initial analyses showed that PND was more common in the control group than the IVF group (0.8% vs. 0.4%; p=0.04). However, these differences disappeared when confounding factors were controlled for. A history of any psychiatric illness (p=.000; OR=25.5; 95 % CI=11.7-55.5), any previous affective disorder (p=,000; OR=26.0; 95%CI=10.5-64.0) or specifically a personality disorder (p=.028; OR=3.8; 95 % CI=1.2-12.7) increased the risk of PND. No woman in either group committed suicide during the first year after childbirth.Conclusions: While mothers who receive IVF treatment are not at increased risk of PND, the risk is increased among mothers with a history of mental illness.

Conception by means of in vitro fertilization is not associated with maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy or postpartum

“…Registry studies including large populations also have failed to show an association between fertility treatments and postpartum depression (25,26). However, they may be limited by a cross-sectional design, the inability to differentiate between different kinds of fertility treatments (25), or the need to rely retrospectively on registered treatments and coded diagnoses of depression (26).…”

Suicidal ideation in the perinatal period: A systematic review

“…Another study investigated the association between suicidal ideation and In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). It was hypothesised that women conceiving with IVF potentially have a higher risk of postnatal depression and suicide however, it was demonstrated that IVF does not increase rates of postnatal depression and suicide (Vikstrom et al, 2017).…”

Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders in Women Undergoing Medically Assisted Reproduction

“…However, an Italian study showed slightly higher anxiety and/or depression rates in both women and partners awaiting IVF/ICSI with respect to the general population, while 18.5% of women and 7.4% of partners who had scored under the threshold at the beginning of the procedures scored above-threshold on anxiety or depression rating scales at the end of the procedures [15]. However, most studies did not find differences in depression between infertile women undergoing treatment for infertility and controls [16][17][18][19][20][21], and one found its prevalence to be reduced in IVF women compared to controls [22]. Results match the conclusions of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, which ruled out a relationship between MAR and postpartum depression [23,24].…”

“…Women score higher than their partners on anxiety and depression [15,17]; a longer infertility history and having an anxious partner appeared to increase anxiety and depression in IVF women [15]. The main risk factors for the development of perinatal depression in women undergoing MAR were past major depressive episodes [28] or other psychiatric disorders [18,20], and past unsuccessful infertility treatment cycles, which also increase the odds for anxiety symptoms [16,29].…”