Anxiety, depression 'no effect on fertility treatment'
Dutch researchers claim their survey, published in the Human Reproduction journal, is the first to examine the link between depression and fertility treatment
Also In The News
|
New Wigan striker Mido scored a late penalty on his debut to earn the Latics a 1-1 draw against Liverpool at the JJB Stadium. |  |
Thursday, 29, Jan 2009 08:56
Symptoms of anxiety and depression do not affect a woman's chances of falling pregnant during fertility treatment, it has been claimed.
Dutch researchers claim their survey, published in the Human Reproduction journal, is the first to examine the link between depression and fertility treatment.
Dr Bea Lintsen from Radboud University, Nijmegen, asked 783 women via questionnaires to assess their level of psychological distress before and during fertility treatment.
For 421 women, depression levels had no impact on their chances of becoming pregnant or cancelling treatment.
"Despite participation of a fairly large number of women in this study, the number was probably not high enough to reach significance in the prediction of pregnancy," Dr Linsten writes.
"We showed that psychological factors were not associated with the cancellation rate. In daily practice, the most important reason for cancellation will be medical: imminent ovarian hyperstimulation, or in contrast, poor ovarian response.
"However, this was not reflected in a difference of biological characteristics between cancelled and non-cancelled women. The only factor predicting cancellation was a longer duration of subfertility."
Dr Lintsen added: "Surprisingly, higher women’s age showed only a trend towards a lower pregnancy chance. All other biological factors studied (pregnancy history, cause and duration of subfertility), did not have an impact on the pregnancy rate."