The comparison of depression and anxiety between fertile and infertile couples: A meta-analysis study

Background: Depression and anxiety are the most common reaction in infertile couples. Several studies have been conducted to examine the psychiatric disorders among infertile and fertile couples. Objective: This meta-analysis was conducted to compare the depression and anxiety in fertile and infertile couples in various studies. Materials and Methods: The authors searched articles published in multiple databases including World Health Organization, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Scopus, Science Direct, Medline EMBASE and Persian databases including Scientific Information Database (SID) and IranMedx between 2005 and 2017. The main keywords used for searching the databases were: depression, anxiety, infertility, and fertility. Statistical analyses were performed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis/2.0 software. Results: The authors found 42 related articles after searching the databases. 11 articles entered the meta-analysis after considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Finally, eight articles were chosen for the comparison of depression and anxiety, two published articles for the comparison of depression, and one published article to compare anxiety in fertile and infertile couples. The results of the heterogeneity test showed a significant heterogeneity among all articles that were analyzed in this meta-analysis in the field of depression and anxiety. The results showed that depression (p = 0.0001; Hedges’g = 1.21; 95% CI 0.63–1.78) and anxiety (p = 0.00001; Hedges’g = 0.63; 95% CI 0.54–0.73) were higher in infertile couples than fertile couples and that the possibility of a publication bias does not exist in this study. Conclusion: The analysis of articles used in this meta-analysis showed that depression and anxiety scores in infertile couples were higher than fertile couples.