Unsuccessful Fertility Treatments Not Linked With Depression

A new study reveals that unsuccessful fertility treatment is not linked with an increased risk of clinically diagnosed depression.

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen (KU; Denmark) and Rigshopitalet University Hospital (Copenhagen, Denmark) conducted a study that analyzed data on more than 41,050 women registered in the Danish National ART-Couple (DANAC) cohort, who received assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment from January 1, 1994, to September 30, 2009. Concomitantly, they reviewed information on unipolar depression obtained from the Danish Psychiatric Central Research Register.

The results revealed that during the 308,494 person-years of follow up, 552 of the women were diagnosed with unipolar depression. Analysis showed that women in ART treatment, with no live birth as yet, had a lower risk of unipolar depression compared with women who completed a live birth, who faced the highest risk of unipolar depression 0–42 days after a live birth. A lower, but still present risk was found in women 43 days and onward post-birth, compared with women with no live birth.

The researchers concluded that becoming a mother is an important trigger of clinically diagnosed depression after childbirth among women who conceive after ART fertility treatment, even though the child is long-awaited. The stress of having a new child thus seems to end up mattering more—in terms of developing clinical depression—than undergoing the infertility treatment. The study was published on august 3, 2015, in Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica.

“These findings regard the most severe cases of depression diagnoses as the women are all diagnosed and treated in a hospital setting,” said lead author Camilla Sejbaek, PhD, of the KU department of public health. “It is important to remember that fertility treatment is straining; however, our findings showed that women undergoing assisted reproductive fertility treatment are at risk of clinically diagnosed severe depression after a child birth.”

The commonly used term postpartum depression (PPD) no longer exists as a diagnosis, and is now defined by the DSM-5 as a depressive disorder with peripartum onset, starting anytime during pregnancy or within the four weeks following delivery. The distinction made between depressive episodes during pregnancy or those that occur after delivery is no longer made. Symptoms may include sadness, low energy, changes in sleeping and eating patterns, reduced sex drive, crying episodes, anxiety, and irritability.

Related Links:
University of Copenhagen
Rigshopitalet University Hospital