Stress and Marital Satisfaction Among Women Before and After Their First Cycle of in Vitro Fertilization and Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection

Objective: To determine differences in emotional status (anxiety and depression) and marital satisfaction in pregnant and nonpregnant women before and after their first cycle of IVF and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

Design: Repeated measurement.

Setting: Fertility department at a university and a regional hospital.

Patient(s): Women entering their first treatment cycle of IVF or ICSI.

Intervention(s): Questionnaires on psychological factors were administered 3 to 12 days before the start of their first treatment cycle and repeated 3 weeks after the pregnancy test.

Main Outcome Measure(s): State anxiety, depression, mood, and marital satisfaction.

Result(s): At pretreatment, the women who became pregnant showed lower levels of depression than those who did not. Higher levels of depression in the pregnant women after the first cycle were due to higher scores on vital aspects of depression, related to signs of early pregnancy. Higher levels of depression in the nonpregnant women were due to a higher score on cognitive aspects of depression.

Conclusion(s): Differences in emotional status between pregnant and nonpregnant women were present before treatment and became more apparent after the first IVF and ICSI cycle. There were no differences in emotional status between the women who underwent IVF and those who underwent ICSI.