Mental health status of infertile females visiting Assisted Reproductive Technology clinics in North India.

The inability to bear children is a tragedy for a female which affects her mental health. The aim of the study was primarily to assess the difference between the mental health status of infertile and fertile females and its association with certain parameters. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Punjab and Chandigarh using a two-stage sampling technique among 20-50-year-old females. 100 infertile females from randomly selected assisted reproductive technology clinics and 100 fertile females from the general population were enrolled by purposive sampling. Their mental health status was assessed using Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI) tool. Majority of the infertile couples were in the age group 31- 35 years and 75% of infertile females were unemployed. Depression was significantly higher among infertile females (69%) than fertile females (10%) and also among primary infertile females (71.8%) than secondary infertile females (67.2%) (p < .001). Duration of infertility had a significant and positive corelation with the BDI scores (ρ= 0.271, p = .006), but age showed insignificant negative corelation with depression (ρ= - 0.006, p = .949). Prevalence of depression among infertile women is higher. It is crucial to bring forward the interventions to decrease and prevent the development of severe depression among females going through infertility.