TY - JOUR

T1 - Stress and depression among women and men who have experienced recurrent pregnancy loss

T2 - focusing on both sexes

AU - Hedegaard, Signe

AU - Landersoe, Selma Kloeve

AU - Olsen, Lis Raabaek

AU - Krog, Maria Christine

AU - Kolte, Astrid Marie

AU - Nielsen, Henriette Svarre

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Reproductive Healthcare Ltd.

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Research Question: Are women and men suffering from recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) more affected by psychological stress and depression than the general population? Design: Cross-sectional study investigating the prevalence of stress and depression in women and men with RPL seen in the Danish national RPL Unit. Data were collected between 2015-2018. All newly referred couples were asked to complete the Major Depression Index (MDI) and Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The scores of both sexes were compared with scores from relevant cohorts of men and women from the general population. Results: In total, 412 women with RPL (82% response rate) and 281 male partners (60% response rate) were included. Depression: 5/281 (1.8%) of men with RPL had moderate/severe depression vs. 5/253 (2.0%) of men in the comparison group (relative risk (RR) 0.90; 95% CI 0.26-3.07, p=0.99). Among women with RPL, 34/412 (8.3%) had a moderate/severe depression vs. 2.2% in the comparison group (RR 3.74; 95% CI 2.40-5.83, p<0.001). High stress levels were found in 30/281 men with RPL (10.7%) vs. 15.8% in the comparison group (co-habiting men) (RR 0.67; 95% CI 0.48-0.94, p=0.017). High stress level was found among 110/384 (28.6%) of RPL-women vs. 420/1813 (23.2%) of comparison women (RR 1.24; 95% CI 1.03-1.48, p=0.026). Both MDI and PSS scores, respectively, for a woman and a man in an RPL couple were significantly correlated. Conclusion: Male partners in RPL couples did not have increased prevalence of stress and depression compared with other men but we confirmed our previous finding of significantly increased frequencies among women with RPL.

AB - Research Question: Are women and men suffering from recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) more affected by psychological stress and depression than the general population? Design: Cross-sectional study investigating the prevalence of stress and depression in women and men with RPL seen in the Danish national RPL Unit. Data were collected between 2015-2018. All newly referred couples were asked to complete the Major Depression Index (MDI) and Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The scores of both sexes were compared with scores from relevant cohorts of men and women from the general population. Results: In total, 412 women with RPL (82% response rate) and 281 male partners (60% response rate) were included. Depression: 5/281 (1.8%) of men with RPL had moderate/severe depression vs. 5/253 (2.0%) of men in the comparison group (relative risk (RR) 0.90; 95% CI 0.26-3.07, p=0.99). Among women with RPL, 34/412 (8.3%) had a moderate/severe depression vs. 2.2% in the comparison group (RR 3.74; 95% CI 2.40-5.83, p<0.001). High stress levels were found in 30/281 men with RPL (10.7%) vs. 15.8% in the comparison group (co-habiting men) (RR 0.67; 95% CI 0.48-0.94, p=0.017). High stress level was found among 110/384 (28.6%) of RPL-women vs. 420/1813 (23.2%) of comparison women (RR 1.24; 95% CI 1.03-1.48, p=0.026). Both MDI and PSS scores, respectively, for a woman and a man in an RPL couple were significantly correlated. Conclusion: Male partners in RPL couples did not have increased prevalence of stress and depression compared with other men but we confirmed our previous finding of significantly increased frequencies among women with RPL.

KW - Cross-sectional study

KW - Depression

KW - Recurrent pregnancy loss

KW - Stress

U2 - 10.1016/j.rbmo.2021.03.012

DO - 10.1016/j.rbmo.2021.03.012

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 33962908

AN - SCOPUS:85105274323

VL - 42

SP - 1172

EP - 1180

JO - Reproductive BioMedicine Online

JF - Reproductive BioMedicine Online

SN - 1472-6483

IS - 4

ER -