AccScience Publishing / JCBP / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/JCBP026180021
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Repeated in vitro fertilization failures and stress: Evaluation of infertile couples

Vipin Chandra1 Kshitiz Murdia2 Nitiz Murdia3 Sandeep Kumar Panigrahi4 Jyoti Ranjan Sahoo4 Amol Lunkad5 Anjali Ghalan6 Rinoy Shreedharan7 Dayanidhi Kumar8 Akanksha Jangid9 Shashank Sanagoudar2* Ganesh Mhaske5 Sueba Salmani6 Manika Singh10 Walmik Mistari1 Neha Dhar5 Isha Suwalka18 Ankita Saha11,12 Nihar Ranjan Bhoi13 Shibakali Gupta14 Chayan Paul11 Saurav Mallik15,16,17*
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1 Clinical Lab and Operations, Indira IVF Hospital Private Limited, Udaipur, Rajasthan , India
2 Department of Reproductive Medicine, Indira IVF Hospital Private Limited, Udaipur, Rajasthan , India
3 Department of Embryology, Indira IVF Hospital Private Limited, Udaipur, Rajasthan , India
4 Community Medicine Department, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan deemed to be University, IMS and SUM Hospital, Bhubaneswar, Odisha , India
5 Department of Reproductive Medicine, Indira IVF Hospital Private Limited, Pune, Maharashtra , India
6 Department of Reproductive Medicine, Indira IVF Hospital Private Limited, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh , India
7 Department of Reproductive Medicine, Indira IVF Hospital Private Limited, Mumbai, Maharashtra , India
8 Department of Reproductive Medicine, Indira IVF Hospital Private Limited, Patna, Bihar , India
9 Department of Reproductive Medicine, Indira IVF Hospital Private Limited, Kolkata, West Bengal , India
10 Department of Reproductive Medicine, Indira IVF Hospital Private Limited, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh , India
11 Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Computer Science, Swami Vivekananda University, Kolkata, West Bengal , India
12 Department of Science and Management, Faculty of Science and Management, ABS Academy of Management and Health Science, Durgapur, West Bengal , India
13 Department of Reproductive Medicine, Indira IVF Hospital Private Limited, Bhubaneswar, Odisha , India
14 Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University Institute of Technology, Burdwan University, Burdwan, West Bengal , India
15 Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts , United States of America
16 Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona , United States of America
17 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas , United States of America
18 Department of Research and Publication, Indira IVF Hospital, Udaipur , Rajasthan
Received: 28 April 2026 | Revised: 25 July 2026 | Accepted: 3 August 2026 | Published online: 9 September 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Infertility affects approximately 10%–15% of couples worldwide and is associated with substantial psychological, social, and emotional challenges. Although assisted reproductive technologies, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), have improved the likelihood of conception, the demanding treatment process and repeated failures can significantly compromise mental well-being. Recurrent implantation failure, commonly defined as two or more unsuccessful IVF cycles despite the transfer of good-quality embryos, is particularly distressing and may contribute to heightened levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. This cross-sectional study evaluated psychological distress among 505 infertile individuals attending tertiary Indira IVF clinics across India between June 2021 and May 2023. Participants aged 25–45 years completed the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 and the World Health Organization-Five Item Well-Being Index (WHO-5). Associations between psychological outcomes and socio-demographic and clinical characteristics were examined using χ2 analyses. The prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depression was 50.5%, 73.7%, and 69.7%, respectively, highlighting the considerable psychological burden experienced during infertility treatment. Greater stress severity was significantly associated with female gender, lower income, larger family size, childlessness, infertility cause, and a higher number of consultations. Anxiety severity was significantly related to age, gender, family type, and household size. Depression was more prevalent among participants without children and those from lower-income households. This emphasizes the importance of routine psychological screening, counseling services, and integrated mental health support as essential components of comprehensive infertility care to improve patient well-being and treatment outcomes.

Keywords
Infertility
In vitro fertilization failure
Psychological distress
Depression
Anxiety
and Stress Scale-21
Multiple failed in vitro fertilization
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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Journal of Clinical and Basic Psychosomatics, Electronic ISSN: 2972-4414 Print ISSN: 3060-8562, Published by AccScience Publishing