Health-Related Quality of Life and Primi-Gravid: A Comparative Study of Natural Conception and Conception by Assisted Reproduction Technologies (ARTs)

Background: Childbearing for the first time is a unique experience. Quality of life is an important indicator in health studies. This study aimed to assess the quality of life of women who were conceived by ARTs and had successful childbirth for the first time and to compare it with quality of life in women who become pregnant naturally and similarly had successful childbirth for the first time. Materials and Methods: This was a cross sectional comparative study. The accessible sample was recruited from patients attending an infertility clinic and two obstetric and gynecology clinics in Tehran, Iran, during March 2010 to March 2011. In all 276 patients were approached. Of these, 162 women (76 women in natural conception group and 86 women in assisted reproduction technologies group) who met the inclusion criteria were entered into the study. Quality of life was assessed using the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). Women completed the questionnaire at two time points: i. last trimester and ii. first month after delivery. Comparison was made between two groups using Mann-Whitney U test and paired samples t test. Results: Comparing the SF-36 scores between women in natural conception group and ARTs group before childbirth, it was found that natural group had better condition on physical functioning, role limitation due to physical problems, bodily pain and social functioning, while the ARTs group reported better status on general health, vitality, role limitation due to emotional problems, and mental health. However, after childbirth, the ARTs group reported a better condition almost on all measures, except for physical functioning. Comparing differences in obtained scores between two groups before and after childbirth, the results showed that improvements in health related quality of life measures for the ARTs group were greater in all measures, expect for general health. Conclusion: The findings from this study suggest that health-related quality of life was improved in women who became a mother for the first time by either method. Comparing to women who became mother by natural conception, women who received ARTs showed better quality of life from this first successful experience.