The Psychological Characteristics Of Infertile Couple Dring IVF/ICSI And Its Association With The Finger Length Ratios

Objectives:1.To Investigate the emotion, social support, personality characteristics andcoping styles of infertile couples undergoing IVF/ICSI treatment; To explore impactemotions factors and their effects on IVF/ICSI outcomes;2.To investigate the emotionalcharacteristics of female at different stages dring IVF and their effects on IVF outcomes;3.Toexplore the correlation between the emotion and personality characteristics and the ratio ofdigital length in infertile female and male.Methods：164infertile patients (95infertile women,69infertile men) undergoingIVF/ICSI treatment completed the self-made demographic information questionnaire,Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), social support ratingscale (SSRS), Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and Coping Style Questionnaire(CSQ). The finger length of left and right hand (palmer aspect) were measured and the digitalratio was calculated by photo from digital camera. The emotional characteristics of womenwere investigated at three different IVF stages, which include term1(T1): the start ofestablishing IVF file before IVF; Term2（T2）:5to7days after embryo transfer (ET)-thewait time after ET; Term3(T3):21to28days after ET-the outcome time after ET. SDS andSAS were only used to evaluate depression and anxiety in T2and T3stages.Results：1.The prevalence of depression、anxiety、both coexisting and normal is2.1%(2/95)、35.8%(34/95)、50.5%(48/95) and11.6%(11/95) respectively in infertile female;The prevalence of depression、anxiety、both coexisting and normal is0(0/69)、39.1%(27/69)、44.9%(31/69) and15.9%(11/69) respectively in infertile male.2. The SDS and SAStotal scores were higher in infertile females than males; Social support status and personalitycharacteristics have no difference in different genders. The factor of fantasy was higher in infertile females than males.3. In infertile men, the scores of SDS in female factors group,male factor group and both factors group have significant difference, in which the SDS scoreswere highest in male factors group. According to multiple linear regression analysis, thevariables impacting on anxiety and depression are neuroticism and rationalization.4. Ininfertile women, the scores of psychoticism and lie in female factors group and male factorgroup have significant difference. According to multiple linear regression analysis, thevariables impacting on anxiety and depression are neuroticism and problem-solving.5. Frominvestigation of emotion effect on IVF treatment, we found the day of using Gonadotropinshave significant differences in the depressed group and the non-depressed group; the day ofusing Gonadotropins were longer in the depressed group than the non-depressed group.6. AtT1、T2and T3, the scores of SDS have no difference in IVF female, but the SAS scores havesignificant difference, and gradually increased. In three stages the scores of SDS and SAShave no difference in Pregnancy group and non-pregnancy group. But the scores of SAS havesignificant difference at T1and T3in the pregnancy group, the scores of SAS have significantdifference at T1、T3and T2、T3in the non-pregnancy group.7. The finger length ratios haveno significant differences between infertile female and male. The finger length ratio have nodifferences in anxiety group、depression group and both coexisting group of infertile women.There have significant difference in digital ratio for right2D:4D、2D:5D of anxiety group、depression group and both coexisting group in infertile men. The psychological status has nodifference between high2D:4D and low2D:4D in infertile female. The scores of Neuroticismwere higher in high2D:4D than low2D:4D of infertile male.8. According to correlationanalysis, the right hand of3D:4D was negatively correlated with the scores of SDS in infertilefemale; the right hand of2D:4D and2D:5D was positively correlated with the scores of SDSin infertile male, the right hand of2D:4D was positively correlated with the scores of SASand neuroticism in infertile male.Conclusion:1.The status of anxiety and depression were common for IVF/ICSI female and male. Infertile female suffered more psychological stress than male. In infertile male,male factor group have higher negative emotion.2. The day of using Gonadotropins werelonger in the depressed group than the non-depressed group.3. Psychological stress wasimpacted by many factors such as personality characteristics, coping style, social supportsystem, educational economic conditions and so on.4. The status of anxiety was graduallyincreased during the treatment of IVF in women. But it is not assumed that emotion influenceon IVF outcome.5. There have no difference between emotion and personality characteristicsand finger length ratios in infertile female. High2D:4D of Infertile male have more anxiety,depression, and have strong emotional reaction encountered stimulation. The relationship ofthe rest of the finger length ratio and individual psychological characteristics needs furtherstudy.