RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SPECIFIC INFERTILITY DIAGNOSES AND FERTILITY QUALITY OF LIFE (FERTIQOL), INSOMNIA, AND PERCEIVED STRESS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine if different infertility diagnoses impacted patients’ scores on the FertiQol questionnaire, Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) during the COVID-19 pandemic The study also investigated if patients who were forced to discontinue their fertility treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic had different FertiQol scores than patients who were able to continue Design: Surveys were administered to 220 patients at a fertility clinic in Manhattan during the COVID-19 pandemic The surveys included a 36-item FertiQol questionnaire assessing Fertility Quality of Life in men and women experiencing fertility problems The surveys also asked patients to specify their infertility diagnoses (polycystic ovary syndrome, diminished ovarian reserve, uterine factor, endometriosis, or male infertility) Patients were further given a 7-item ISI questionnaire and a 10-item PSS questionnaire Finally, the surveys asked whether patients were forced to disrupt their fertility treatment plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic Materials and Methods: Using multiple linear regression, we looked for statistically significant relationships between different infertility diagnoses and FertiQol scores For this regression, we excluded all individuals who did not know their infertility diagnosis, had unexplained infertility issues, answered that they were fertile, or did not answer the FertiQol questionnaire We also used multiple linear regression to look for statistically significant relationships between different infertility diagnoses and levels of insomnia and between different infertility diagnoses and perceived stress Next, using Welch’s t-test, we investigated if patients who discontinued their fertility treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic had a different mean FertiQol score from patients who continued treatment We excluded all individuals who were not currently undergoing treatment and who did not answer the FertiQol questionnaire A p-value less than 0 05 was considered statistically significant Results: The majority of the IVF patients sampled self-reported moderate stress (66 9%) There was no statistically significant relationship between the exact etiology of an IVF patient’s infertility diagnosis and the patient’s FertiQol score There was also no statistically significant relationship between the exact etiology of an IVF patient’s infertility diagnosis and the patient’s ISI nor PSS scores Patients who discontinued their fertility treatments during COVID-19 did not have different FertiQol scores from patients who were able to continue Conclusions: The majority of the IVF patients sampled self-reported moderate stress during the COVID-19 pandemic Interestingly, the exact etiology of an IVF patient’s infertility diagnosis did not have a statistically significant impact upon his or her Fertility Quality of Life, ISI, and PSS scores during this time period Patients who were forced to discontinue their fertility treatments due to COVID-19 did not have different FertiQol scores from patients who were able to continue