Evaluation of the general health of the infertile couples

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of infertility is variable between 5-30% around the world. In Iran, more than 2 million couples suffer from infertility. Infertility causes depression, anxiety, social isolation and sexual dysfunction. OBJECTIVE: This descriptive study was undertaken to determine general health in infertile couples. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and fifty infertile couples attending Yazd Research and Clinical Center for Infertility were randomly selected during March till September 2009. The GHQ-28 questionnaires were completed by researchers, based on face to face interview. It contains 28 items, which have been divided to four sub- items. The results come out by scoring the patients answer from 0 to 84. All data were analyzed by Chi-square and t-test in SPSS software. RESULTS: GHQ scores of all sub-scales and total in women were more than men, which shows general health condition in women is worse than men. There was no relation between the duration of infertility and general health scores. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that the infertility has significant effect (p=0.001) on health situation of infertile couples, especially infertile women. They are at risk of somatic symptoms (p=0.0001), social dysfunction (p=0.0001) and severe depression (p=0.0001). GHQ could provided help and support in order to improve the health situation of infertile couples.