Illness anxiety, infertility stress, resilience and thyroid-stimulating hormone among infertile people undergoing ART treatment in China

Abstract

Objective

Infertile people undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment in China may experience severe infertility-related stress and illness anxiety (IA). However, little relevant research has been conducted until now.

Design

This study investigated the IA of 340 infertile people undergoing ART treatment, including 43 males, 292 females and 5 who preferred not to answer, in 2 tertiary general public hospitals in Wen Zhou, China.

Main Outcome Measures

Blood samples for thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels were obtained from 107 women to explore the relationship between IA and TSH. The questionnaire contained the Mandarin version of the Fertility Problem Inventory, the Resilient Trait Scale for Chinese Adults and the Whiteley Index, measuring infertility stress, resilience and IA, respectively.

Results

An incidence rate of 44.1% of IA among infertile people undergoing ART treatment in China was determined, and 30.2% of men and 46.6% of women had severe IA (χ² = 4.05, p < 0.05). The risk of severe IA in women was around twice that in men (OR = 2.01, 95% CI: 1.01–4.01). Women’s IA level was significantly associated with their TSH level (β = 0.27, p < 0.01). Resilience played a moderating role in the relationship between parenthood importance and illness anxiety.

Conclusion

This study highlighted the importance and urgency of providing holistic care for illness anxiety of infertile people undergoing ART treatment in China, especially women. The findings of this study indicated that mind-body therapies and resilience empowerment workshops could be conducive to infertile people’s holistic health.

Keywords:

• Assisted reproductive technology
• illness anxiety
• infertility-related stress
• resilience
• thyroid stimulating hormone

Acknowledgements

None.

Author contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by M.X.C.Y. and X.-Y.C., X.-L.S., H.-D.L., H.-T.X. and L.Q. helped in the conceptualisation and methodology. The first draft of the manuscript was written by M.X.C.Y. and X.-Y.C. and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethics

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee, the APA ethical standards and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the medical ethics committee of the medical ethics committee of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University [2021-k-27-01].

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, X.Y.C., upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by “the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities” (No. 4013002303).