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Higher mental health risk for women who undergo failed fertility treatment – but still want children (15 September 2014)

Date: 15/09/2014
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Higher mental health risk for women who undergo failed fertility treatment – but still want children

New research from Cardiff University suggests that childless women who undergo fertility treatment which is unsuccessful may have a poor long-term mental health outlook.

Dr Sofia Gameiro and colleagues at the university’s School of Psychology followed up a large group of women whose fertility treatment had failed more than ten years after they had undergone IVF treatment.

Working with colleagues from The Netherlands, the team examined 7,000 questionnaires from women who had began their fertility treatment at hospitals in Holland between 1995 and 2000.

The women received the questionnaires in January 2012 – between 11 and 17 years after they would have first started IVF treatment.

The respondents answered questions about their age age, menopausal status, as well as educational status and marital status – and also whether they or their partner had fertility problems.

A mental health assessment also asked the women about how they had been feeling in the four weeks prior to answering the questionnaire.

Dr Gameiro said that previous research has already found that women who undergo unsuccessful fertility treatment have poorer mental health in the future compared with their peers – but the recent study was the first to take into account other factors such as whether or not the IVF patients had children and whether they still wanted children, as well as their diagnosis and medical treatment.

The team discovered that the 6% of those who still wanted children were more likely to be suffering adverse mental health issues.

Furthermore, women who still wanted children were more than two-and-a-half times (2.8) as likely to experience poor mental health, compared with those who had accepted they would be childless – regardless of whether the woman or her partner was infertile and her history of treatment.

The researchers found, however, that most of the women who responded to the questionnaire had accepted their childless state.

Dr Gameiro said:

“It is quite striking to see that women who do have children but still wish for more children report poorer mental health than those who have no children but have come to accept it.”

The researchers also discovered that 16% of women approached to complete the questionnaire felt they were unable to do so because of the emotional upset and memories of the time they had been undergoing fertility treatment.

“We live in societies that embrace determination and persistence,” said Dr Gameiro.

“However, there is a moment when letting go of unachievable goals – be it parenthood or other important life goals – is a necessary and adaptive process for wellbeing.”

She added that it should be considered whether society today allows people “to let go of their goals” – as well as providng people with the “necessary mechanisms to realistically assess when is the right moment to let go”.

It is estimated that one in four people will suffer a mental health issue at some point in their lives.

The findings of the research by Cardiff Univeristy are published in the journal Human Reproduction.

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