Depression and anxiety symptoms in women with infertility were substantially connected with their sleep quality, physical symptoms, and educational level rather than infertility and occupation status, according to a cross-sectional study. Researchers aimed to assess the occurrence of depression and anxiety in infertile women as well as the risk factors that may contribute to these conditions.

Overall, 1712 eligible female subjects who got assisted reproductive technology (ART) therapy for infertility were eventually enrolled. Using Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), the psychological health of the subjects was examined. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value was procured using factor analysis to evaluate validity. Cronbach's α and Spearman-Brown half coefficient were used to evaluate the reliability of all scales. The independent risk variables for depression and anxiety were evaluated using multivariate and univariate logistic regression analysis, respectively.

The occurrence of depression and anxiety in females with infertility is depicted in Table 1:

GAD-7 and PHQ-9 each had Cronbach's alpha values and Spearman-Brown half-fold coefficients of 0.870, 0.825, 0.852, and 0.793, respectively. Anxiety was found to be independently influenced by sleep quality (poor sleep quality, OR: 9.3), somatic symptoms (severe somatic symptoms, OR: 15.2), and education level (junior college degree or above, OR:1.6), as per the multivariate and univariate logistic regression analysis.

Additionally, independent causative factors for depression included deteriorated sleep quality, moderate and severe somatic symptoms, and age more than 35 years. Hence, the risk factors for depression and anxiety symptoms in infertile women encompass poor sleep quality and somatic symptoms. Additionally, people with higher levels of education (junior college degree or higher) have more possibility to have anxiety symptoms, whereas patients over the age of 35 are more likely to experience depression symptoms.