A Comparative Study of Quality of Life in Infertile and Fertile Women Referred to Jahrom Infertility Clinics

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Infertility is a medical problem which influences all the dimensions of one’s individual and social life and can expose him/her to psycho-physical, socio-economic, sexual and family challenges. This study was designed to compare the quality of life of fertile and infertile women. MATERIALS & METHODOLOGY: This is a case-control analytical study in which 180 fertile and infertile women (aged 18-42) participated. The infertile group consisted of women who had visited an infertility treatment clinic. The fertile group consisted of healthy women who had children and had visited a healthcare center in the city of Jahrom. For the case group (n=90), sampling was conducted based on the census method; for the control group (n=90), subjects were selected through stratified random sampling. Data were collected using a questionnaire which had two sections: demographic information and the World Health Organization quality of life questionnaire (WHO QOL-BREF). The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 16. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 28.26±4.85 years. 76.5% of the infertility cases were due to female infertility and 5.9% were due to male infertility. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the infertile and fertile groups in their overall satisfaction with life levels (p=0.002). There were no significant differences between the two groups in mean scores of somatic, psychological, social and environmental dimensions (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Considering the results of the present research, it seems that factors like acceptance of infertility by couples, hope for present medical solutions to be effective, use of support plans and recent advancements in technology are possible reasons for the absence of difference between the infertile and fertile groups in quality of life.