Determinants of Quality of Life in Serbian Infertile Couples
-
Milena Zlatanovic
,
Ardea Milidrag
,
Marija Sorak
,
Sanja Kocic
,
Aleksandar Visnjic
,
Mile Despotovic
,
Teodora Safiye
,
Milena Despotovic
,
Christos Alexopoulos
,
Svetlana R Radevic
Abstract
Background: This study aimed to examine the quality of life and the factors that determine the quality of life of infertile couples.
Methods: The research was conducted as a cross-sectional study at the Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinic "Narodni Front" in Belgrade, the Special Gynecology Hospital "Ferona" in Novi Sad, the Special Hospital for the Treatment of Sterility and In Vitro Fertilization "Spebo Medikal" in Leskovac and the General Hospital in Valjevo, Serbia in 2022, on a sample of 378 infertile couples. The data were collected by means of a questionnaire, the integral part of which is the standardized FertiQoL scale. Independent t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to determine differences. A value of P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: Women achieve a significantly lower score on the quality of life questionnaire (69.34±11.05) compared to men (73.96±9.87). Women exhibit significantly lower scores in the area of physical, emotional and social functioning (P<0.05). Men who live in the countryside show a lower quality of life score in the emotional (P=0.029) and social (P=0.042) domains. In addition, men over 40 years of age and with a high level of education have a lower quality of life (P=0.08).
Conclusion: Women have a lower quality of life, as do men from rural areas and over 40 years of age. A multidisciplinary approach and community education, as well as the provision of social support with a special emphasis on emotional and material support, would significantly contribute to improving the quality of life of infertile couples.
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2. World Health Organization (2024). Iinfer-tility, World Health Оrganisation. Infer-tility. Аvailable at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/infertility
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7. Simionescu G, Doroftei B, Maftei R, et al (2021). The complex relationship be-tween infertility and psychological dis-tress (Review). ExpTher Med, 21(4):306.
8. Bright SJ, Hübel C, Young KS, et al (2023). Sociodemographic, mental health, and physical health factors associated with participation within re-contactable men-tal health cohorts: an investigation of the GLAD Study. BMC Psychiatry, 23(1):542.
9. Webair HH, Ismail TA, Ismail SB, Khaffaji AJ (2021). Patient-centred infertility care among Arab women experiencing infer-tility: A qualitative study. BMJ Open, 11(6):e044300.
10. Dube L, Bright K, Hayden KA, Gordon JL (2023). Efficacy of psychological inter-ventions for mental health and preg-nancy rates among individuals with in-fertility: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Hum Reprod Update, 29(1):71-94.
11. Liu K, Dou S, Qin W, et al (2024). Associa-tion between quality of life and resili-ence in infertile patients: a systematic review. Front Public Health 12:1345899.
12. World Medical Association (2013). World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. JA-MA, 310(20):2191-4.
13. Boivin J, Takefman J, Braverman A (2011). The fertility quality of life (FertiQoL) tool: development and general psycho-metric properties. Hum Reprod, 26(8):2084-91.
14. Mokhtari F, Torabi F, Pirhadi M (2022). Re-lationship between fertility characteris-tics with spiritual intelligence and resili-ence in infertile couples. J Educ Health Promot, 11:44.
15. Bueno-Sánchez L, Alhambra-Borrás T, Gallego-Valadés A, Garcés-Ferrer J (2024). Psychosocial Impact of Infertility Diagnosis and Conformity to Gender Norms on the Quality of Life of Infer-tile Spanish Couples. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 21(2):158.
16. Bhamani SS, Zahid N, Zahid W, Farooq S, Sachwani S, Chapman M, Asad N (2020). Association of depression and resilience with fertility quality of life among pa-tients presenting to the infertility centre for treatment in Karachi, Pakistan. BMC Public Health, 20(1):1607.
17. Zeren F, Gürsoy E, Çolak E (2019). The quality of life and dyadic adjustment of couples receiving infertility treatment. Afr J Reprod Health, 23(1):117-27.
18. Kiani Z, Simbar M, Hajian S, Zayeri F, Ra-shidiFakari F, Chimeh FJ (2022). Investi-gating different dimensions of infertile women’s quality of life: a descriptive cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health, 22(1):2436
19. Dadhwal V, Choudhary V, Perumal V, Bhattacharya D (2022). Depression, anx-iety, quality of life and coping in women with infertility: A cross sectional study from India. Int J Gynaecol Obstet, 158(3):671-8.
20. Bose S, Roy B, Umesh S (2021) Marital Du-ration, and Fertility-Related Stress as Predictors of Quality of life: Gender Differences among Primary Infertile Couples. J Hum Reprod Sci, 14(2):184-190.
21. Dillu R, Sheoran P, Sarin J (2013). An ex-ploratory study to assess the quality of life of infertile couples at selected infer-tility clinics in Haryana. IOSR J Nurs Health Sci, 2:45-51.
22. Renzi A, Fedele F, Di Trani M (2023). As-sisted Reproductive Treatments, Quality of Life, and Alexithymia in Couples. Healthcare (Basel), 11(7):1026.
23. Ha JY, Ban SH (2020). Effect of resilience on infertile couples' quality of life: an actor-partner interdependence model approach. Health Qual Life Outcomes, 18(1):295.
24. Kumari A, Itagi ABH, Kanchi VBR, Sharmila V, Dipankar SP (2023). Psy-chometric Measurement of Fertility-related Quality of Life across Gender in Primary Infertile Couples. J Hum Re-prodSci, 16(4):346-351.
25. Maroufizadeh S, Hosseini M, Rahimi-Foroushani A, Omani-Samani R, Amini P (2018). The effect of depression on quality of life in infertile couples: an ac-tor-partner interdependence model ap-proach. Health Qual Life Outcomes, 16(1):73.
26. Wadadekar GS, Inamdar DB, Nimbargi VR (2021). Assessment of Impact of In-fertility & its Treatment on Quality of Life of Infertile Couples using Fertility Quality of Life Questionnaire. J Hum ReprodSci, 14(1):3-10.
27. Royani Z, Heidari M, Vatanparast M, Ya-ghmaei F, Sarcheshme AK, Majomerd JK (2019). Predictors of Quality of Life in Infertile Couples. J Menopausal Med, 25(1):35-40.
28. NamavarJahromi B, Mansouri M, Forouhari S, Poordast T, Salehi A (2018). Quality of Life and Its Influencing Fac-tors of Couples Referred to An Infertili-ty Center in Shiraz, Iran. Int J Fertil Ste-ril.11(4):293-297. Erratum in: Int J Fertil Steril.2018 Apr;12(1):91.
29. Goker A, Yanikkerem E, Birge O, Kuscu NK.(2018). Quality of life in Turkish in-fertile couples and related factors. Hum Fertil (Camb), 21(3):195-203.
30. Zurlo MC, Cattaneo Della Volta MF, Val-lone F (2018). Predictors of quality of life and psychological health in infertile couples: the moderating role of duration of infertility. Qual Life Res, 27(4):945-954.
31. Dourou P, Gourounti K, Lykeridou A, Gai-tanou K, Petrogiannis N, Sarantaki A (2023). Quality of Life among Couples with a Fertility Related Diagnosis. Clin Pract, 13(1):251-263.
2. World Health Organization (2024). Iinfer-tility, World Health Оrganisation. Infer-tility. Аvailable at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/infertility
3. Garolla A, Pizzol D, Carosso AR, et al (2021). Practical Clinical and Diagnostic Pathway for the Inves
4. tigation of the Infertile Couple. Front Endo-crinol (Lausanne), 11:591837.
5. Infertility prevalence estimates, 1990–2021. Geneva: World Health Organiza-tion.(2023). Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. Available online: https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/gho-documents/world-health-statistic-reports/2023/world-health-statistics-2023_20230519_.pdf
6. Rodić A, Malenković G, Bjelica A, Tomić S, Tomić S (2022). Quality of life of women in the process of in vitro fertili-zation. Sister word, 25(85):16-20.
7. Simionescu G, Doroftei B, Maftei R, et al (2021). The complex relationship be-tween infertility and psychological dis-tress (Review). ExpTher Med, 21(4):306.
8. Bright SJ, Hübel C, Young KS, et al (2023). Sociodemographic, mental health, and physical health factors associated with participation within re-contactable men-tal health cohorts: an investigation of the GLAD Study. BMC Psychiatry, 23(1):542.
9. Webair HH, Ismail TA, Ismail SB, Khaffaji AJ (2021). Patient-centred infertility care among Arab women experiencing infer-tility: A qualitative study. BMJ Open, 11(6):e044300.
10. Dube L, Bright K, Hayden KA, Gordon JL (2023). Efficacy of psychological inter-ventions for mental health and preg-nancy rates among individuals with in-fertility: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Hum Reprod Update, 29(1):71-94.
11. Liu K, Dou S, Qin W, et al (2024). Associa-tion between quality of life and resili-ence in infertile patients: a systematic review. Front Public Health 12:1345899.
12. World Medical Association (2013). World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. JA-MA, 310(20):2191-4.
13. Boivin J, Takefman J, Braverman A (2011). The fertility quality of life (FertiQoL) tool: development and general psycho-metric properties. Hum Reprod, 26(8):2084-91.
14. Mokhtari F, Torabi F, Pirhadi M (2022). Re-lationship between fertility characteris-tics with spiritual intelligence and resili-ence in infertile couples. J Educ Health Promot, 11:44.
15. Bueno-Sánchez L, Alhambra-Borrás T, Gallego-Valadés A, Garcés-Ferrer J (2024). Psychosocial Impact of Infertility Diagnosis and Conformity to Gender Norms on the Quality of Life of Infer-tile Spanish Couples. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 21(2):158.
16. Bhamani SS, Zahid N, Zahid W, Farooq S, Sachwani S, Chapman M, Asad N (2020). Association of depression and resilience with fertility quality of life among pa-tients presenting to the infertility centre for treatment in Karachi, Pakistan. BMC Public Health, 20(1):1607.
17. Zeren F, Gürsoy E, Çolak E (2019). The quality of life and dyadic adjustment of couples receiving infertility treatment. Afr J Reprod Health, 23(1):117-27.
18. Kiani Z, Simbar M, Hajian S, Zayeri F, Ra-shidiFakari F, Chimeh FJ (2022). Investi-gating different dimensions of infertile women’s quality of life: a descriptive cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health, 22(1):2436
19. Dadhwal V, Choudhary V, Perumal V, Bhattacharya D (2022). Depression, anx-iety, quality of life and coping in women with infertility: A cross sectional study from India. Int J Gynaecol Obstet, 158(3):671-8.
20. Bose S, Roy B, Umesh S (2021) Marital Du-ration, and Fertility-Related Stress as Predictors of Quality of life: Gender Differences among Primary Infertile Couples. J Hum Reprod Sci, 14(2):184-190.
21. Dillu R, Sheoran P, Sarin J (2013). An ex-ploratory study to assess the quality of life of infertile couples at selected infer-tility clinics in Haryana. IOSR J Nurs Health Sci, 2:45-51.
22. Renzi A, Fedele F, Di Trani M (2023). As-sisted Reproductive Treatments, Quality of Life, and Alexithymia in Couples. Healthcare (Basel), 11(7):1026.
23. Ha JY, Ban SH (2020). Effect of resilience on infertile couples' quality of life: an actor-partner interdependence model approach. Health Qual Life Outcomes, 18(1):295.
24. Kumari A, Itagi ABH, Kanchi VBR, Sharmila V, Dipankar SP (2023). Psy-chometric Measurement of Fertility-related Quality of Life across Gender in Primary Infertile Couples. J Hum Re-prodSci, 16(4):346-351.
25. Maroufizadeh S, Hosseini M, Rahimi-Foroushani A, Omani-Samani R, Amini P (2018). The effect of depression on quality of life in infertile couples: an ac-tor-partner interdependence model ap-proach. Health Qual Life Outcomes, 16(1):73.
26. Wadadekar GS, Inamdar DB, Nimbargi VR (2021). Assessment of Impact of In-fertility & its Treatment on Quality of Life of Infertile Couples using Fertility Quality of Life Questionnaire. J Hum ReprodSci, 14(1):3-10.
27. Royani Z, Heidari M, Vatanparast M, Ya-ghmaei F, Sarcheshme AK, Majomerd JK (2019). Predictors of Quality of Life in Infertile Couples. J Menopausal Med, 25(1):35-40.
28. NamavarJahromi B, Mansouri M, Forouhari S, Poordast T, Salehi A (2018). Quality of Life and Its Influencing Fac-tors of Couples Referred to An Infertili-ty Center in Shiraz, Iran. Int J Fertil Ste-ril.11(4):293-297. Erratum in: Int J Fertil Steril.2018 Apr;12(1):91.
29. Goker A, Yanikkerem E, Birge O, Kuscu NK.(2018). Quality of life in Turkish in-fertile couples and related factors. Hum Fertil (Camb), 21(3):195-203.
30. Zurlo MC, Cattaneo Della Volta MF, Val-lone F (2018). Predictors of quality of life and psychological health in infertile couples: the moderating role of duration of infertility. Qual Life Res, 27(4):945-954.
31. Dourou P, Gourounti K, Lykeridou A, Gai-tanou K, Petrogiannis N, Sarantaki A (2023). Quality of Life among Couples with a Fertility Related Diagnosis. Clin Pract, 13(1):251-263.
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| Issue | Vol 53 No 6 (2024) | |
| Section | Original Article(s) | |
| Keywords | ||
| Infertility Quality of life Infertile couples | ||
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How to Cite
1.
Zlatanovic M, Milidrag A, Sorak M, Kocic S, Visnjic A, Despotovic M, Safiye T, Despotovic M, Alexopoulos C, Radevic S. Determinants of Quality of Life in Serbian Infertile Couples. Iran J Public Health. 2024;53(6):1322-1331.
