Anxiety and depression symptoms in infertile men during their first infertility evaluation visit

• Main Authors: Borbála Eszter Hegyi (Author), Zoltan Kozinszky (Author), Attila Badó (Author), Edina Dombi (Author), Gábor Németh (Author), Norbert Pásztor (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group, 2019-10-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 0167-482X; 1743-8942; 10.1080/0167482X.2018.1515906
• Keywords: depression; anxiety; infertility; men; Gynecology and obstetrics; RG1-991
• Source: Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vol 40, Iss 4, Pp 311-317 (2019)

Objective: To assess the psychological condition of men at the start of the infertility work-up. Methods: Men seeking an infertility evaluation for the first time were recruited. Depression and anxiety symptoms and subjective psychological burden were assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and a visual analog scale (VAS). Results: Data from 113 patients were analyzed. The mean age of the patients was 33.3 (range: 23-54) years, whereas the mean duration of infertility was 16.3 (range: 0-96) months. Results from the BDI and STAI were 2.24 (SD: ±3.18) and 33.74 (SD: ±8.04). Mild depressive symptoms were found in 4.5% of patients, whereas anxiety reached an abnormal level in 4.9%. There were significant correlations between the results from the BDI score and the duration of infertility (p = .024), whereas the STAI and VAS scores showed no similar connection (p = .142 and p = .261, respectively). Among patients with infertility longer than 2 years, mild depressive symptoms occurred in 23.1%. Conclusion: Among men, the levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms were low at the start of the infertility work-up. Depressive symptom levels increased significantly with the duration of infertility, whereas anxiety levels and VAS scores did not demonstrate a similar correlation.