IVF treatment is a notoriously stressful and lengthy process. A new study has shown that going through IVF treatment increases a couple’s risk of divorce by up to 300 percent.
IVF treatment is a notoriously stressful and lengthy process. A new study has shown that going through IVF treatment increases a couple’s risk of divorce by up to 300 percent.The research was carried out in Denmark and published in in the medical journal Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica.
47,515 women in their 30s who had sought treatment for infertility between 1990 and 2006, took part in the study. Close to half (43 per cent) were still childless seven years after beginning the treatment and 27 per cent of these had divorced or separated since the unsuccessful IVF treatment, three times more than other women.
Lead researcher Trille Kristina Kjaer told Medical Daily:
“This research is important because although earlier research has shown that fertility problems and its treatments are major stressors…especially if the treatments are unsuccessful, we did not know how many of these couples actually decide to split up if they did not get a child. Now that we know that there is a higher probability of divorce if you do not get a child after a fertility evaluation the individual couples, and also the medical staff that work with these women, can initiate proper interventions earlier and hopefully prevent some of the break ups.”