Pretreatment Beck Depression Inventory score is an important predictor for Post-treatment score in infertile patients: a before-after study

Afsaneh Khademi¹ , Ashraf Alleyassin¹ , Marzieh Aghahosseini¹ , Fatemeh Ramezanzadeh² and Ali Ahmadi Abhari³

¹Infertility Ward, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, North Kargar Street, Tehran, 14114, I R Iran

²Vali-e-Asr Reproductive Health Research Center, Vali-e-Asr Hospital, Emam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Keshavarz Blvd, Tehran, 14194, I R Iran

³Roozbeh Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, South Karger Street, Tehran, 13185, I R Iran

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BMC Psychiatry 2005, 5:25doi:10.1186/1471-244X-5-25


Published:	24 May 2005

Abstract

Background

The experience of infertility can be extremely stressful. Some of the risk factors for depression in infertility are being female, repeated unsuccessful treatment cycles or a 2 to 3 year history of infertility, low socioeconomic status, foreign nationality, lack of partner support, life events and previous depression. In this study, we analyzed the Beck Depression Inventory score at the beginning and the end of infertility treatment, to determine which factors may influence the BDI score after treatment of infertility.

Methods

In a before-after study, in a university-affiliated teaching hospital, 251 women who had been visited for assisted reproductive technology infertility treatment participated in the study. BDI score was assessed before and after treatment of infertility.

Results

The mean BDI score rose after unsuccessful treatment and dropped after successful treatment. Those with lower education levels had a higher BDI score before treatment. BDI score after treatment was positively correlated with pretreatment BDI scoreand duration of infertility.

Conclusion

BDI score after treatment was strongly connected to the BDI score before treatment, the result of therapy and to the duration of infertility. The influence of duration of infertility on BDI score after treatment of infertility is weak. So a simple method to screen patients at risk of depression after infertility treatment is determining pretreatment BDI score and predicting the result of infertility treatment by other risk factors.