Mental health infertility link

Published on 03/07/2012 01:48

Women who remain childless after seeking fertility treatment are significantly more at risk of being hospitalised for mental problems, a study has found.

Researchers looked at data on 98,737 Danish women investigated for infertility between 1973 and 2008.

Over a period of 12.6 years, more than half the women had a baby. But those who did not were 18 per cent more likely to end up in hospital being treated for a psychiatric disorder.

In total, almost 5,000 of the whole population of women were hospitalised for mental conditions such as alcohol abuse, psychosis, depression, and obsessive compulsive disorder.