The prevalence and predictability of depression in infertile women.

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence, severity, and predictability of depression in infertile women compared with a control sample of healthy women. DESIGN Subjects were assessed while waiting to see their physician: infertility patients before a visit with an infertility specialist and control subjects before seeing either a gynecologist or internist for a routine gynecological examination. Subjects completed a demographic form and two depression scales. SETTING A group infertility practice affiliated with an academic medical center, a hospital-based gynecology practice, and a health maintenance organization internal medicine clinic. PARTICIPANTS 338 infertile women and 39 healthy women. INTERVENTIONS None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The Beck Depression Inventory and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. RESULTS The infertile women had significantly higher depression scores and twice the prevalence of depression than the controls; women with a 2- to 3-year history of infertility had significantly higher depression scores compared with women with infertility durations of < 1 year or > 6 years; women with an identified causative factor for their infertility had significantly higher depression scores than women with unexplained or undiagnosed infertility. CONCLUSIONS Depressive symptoms are common in infertile women. Psychological interventions aimed at reducing depressive symptoms need to be implemented, especially for women with a definitive diagnosis and for those with durations of 2 to 3 years of infertility.