The prevalence of depression symptoms among infertile women: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Depression symptoms show up in roughly a quarter to a half of women going through infertility — can we screen me for depression as part of my fertility workup rather than waiting for me to raise it?
Well-supported by good-quality research. how we score evidence
Caveat on this rating: These are screening-questionnaire symptom rates, not diagnosed major depressive disorder, and heterogeneity between the pooled studies was high. The published confidence interval for the HADS estimate (21.01%, 95% CI 15.61-34.42) is asymmetric around the point estimate as printed in the paper.
Pooling 32 studies covering 9,679 infertile women, depression symptoms were far more common than in the general population — 44.3% in low- and middle-income countries and 28.0% in high-income countries. The estimate swings hard with the questionnaire used (21.0% on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, 52.2% on the Beck Depression Inventory), so treat the range, not any single number, as the real signal.
Worth asking
Depression symptoms show up in roughly a quarter to a half of women going through infertility — can we screen me for depression as part of my fertility workup rather than waiting for me to raise it?
What to watch for
Evidence quality tells you whether to trust the finding — not whether the treatment is safe. These are the risks this research reports.
- Fertility & pregnancy risk
Source
The prevalence of depression symptoms among infertile women: a systematic review and meta-analysis. — Kiani Z, Simbar M, Hajian S, Zayeri F. (2021)
Indexed peer-reviewed journal
Read the source: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40738-021-00098-3
DOI: 10.1186/s40738-021-00098-3
How this was scored
- Study design
- Systematic review of observational studies
- Funding
- No external funding
- Published in
- Indexed peer-reviewed journal
- Sample size
- 9,679
- Preregistered
- No
- Conflicts disclosed
- Yes
- Independent of proponent
- Yes
- Retracted
- No
Read the full scoring rubric, including what it can't tell you.
Published August 19, 2026.
Where we put this study in context
Questions
How strong is the evidence behind this?
Resolv rates this source "strong evidence". Well-supported by good-quality research. It scores 74 out of 100 on our published rubric. One caveat travels with that badge: These are screening-questionnaire symptom rates, not diagnosed major depressive disorder, and heterogeneity between the pooled studies was high. The published confidence interval for the HADS estimate (21.01%, 95% CI 15.61-34.42) is asymmetric around the point estimate as printed in the paper. The score is calculated from recorded facts about the source — study design, funding, publication venue, sample size, preregistration — not typed in by an editor.
What is the source for this?
The prevalence of depression symptoms among infertile women: a systematic review and meta-analysis. — Kiani Z, Simbar M, Hajian S, Zayeri F. (2021). Published in: Indexed peer-reviewed journal. DOI: 10.1186/s40738-021-00098-3. The full source is linked on this page so you can read it yourself.
Who paid for this research, and does that matter?
Study design: Systematic review of observational studies. Funding: No external funding. The researchers were independent of whoever benefits from the result. Industry sponsorship is one of the most reliably measured biases in medicine, which is why funding carries real weight in the score rather than sitting in a footnote.
Is this medical advice?
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.