Infertility Linked to Mental Health Disorders in Women
Women with infertility issues are more likely to suffer from mental health disorders as well as face higher risks for substance abuse, according to researchers.
A woman is considered infertile if she is unable to achieve pregnancy after one year of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse, defined as having contact with a partner of the opposite gender at least three times a week.
Brigitte Baldur-Feskov of the Danish Cancer Society Research Center in Copenhagen and colleagues studied data from 98,737 Danish women who consulted a doctor about infertility between 1973 and 2003. Of the women, who were observed over an average of 12.6 years, there were 4,677 hospitalized for mental health disorders. Among them, 2,507 did not have a child while 2,107 women had at least one child.
Since the study focused only on cases that warranted hospitalization, the link between infertility and mental health disorders in women may be a bigger issue. Baldur-Feskov even described their findings as only the “tip of the iceberg.”
The results of the study was presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Istanbul.
Tags: effect of infertility to mental health, female infertility, infertility and mental health disorders, woman infertility
