FREQUENCY AND DETERMINANTS OF DEPRESSIVE ILLNESS AMONG INFERTILE WOMEN

Abstract

Background: Depression is much more common among infertile women as compared to the general population. The objectives of our study were to determine the frequency of depression among infertile women and association of depression among infertile women with age groups, level of education, and duration of infertility.
Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Department of Psychiatry, Gomal Medical College, D.I.Khan, Pakistan from 1st January 2018 to 31st December 2018. Sample size was 145 women with primary infertility selected through consecutive sampling technique. The demographic variables were; age groups, level education, duration of primary infertility and research variables was presence of depression. Observed and expected frequency for depression was analyzed by chi-square goodness-of-fit test. Association of depression with age groups, level of education and infertility duration were analyzed by chi-square test of independence.
Results: Out of 145 infertile women. 122(84.1%;78.15-90.05%) had depression whereas 23(15.9%;9.95-21.85%) had no depression. Thirty seven out of 145(25.52%) women in the age group <25 years had depression, 76 out of 145(52.41%)women in the age group 25-34 years had depression. Twenty five out of 145(17.24%) infertile women in the uneducated category had depression, 28 out of 145(19.31%) infertile women in the primary education category had depression whereas 16(11.03%) and 53(36.55%) infertile women in the middle and matriculation and more categories respectively had depression.
Conclusion: Frequency of depression in infertile women was high especially in women having infertility duration of 1-3 years. The difference in frequency of depression between the sample and population was statistically significant. Presence of depression was associated with infertility duration.