Impact of Stress and Financials on Romanian Infertile Women Accessing Assisted Reproductive Treatment

Roxana Margan, Madalin-Marius Margan, Corneluta Fira-Mladinescu, Salomeia Putnoky, Ioana Tuta-Sas, Radu Bagiu, Zoran Laurentiu Popa, Elena Bernad, Ioana Mihaela Ciuca, Felix Bratosin, Oana Codruta Miloicov-Bacean, Brigitha Vlaicu and Amadeus Dobrescu
Additional contact information
Roxana Margan: Department 14 Microbiology, Discipline of Hygiene, Center for Studies in Preventive Medicine, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Madalin-Marius Margan: Department of Microscopic Morphology, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Corneluta Fira-Mladinescu: Department 14 Microbiology, Discipline of Hygiene, Center for Studies in Preventive Medicine, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Salomeia Putnoky: Department 14 Microbiology, Discipline of Hygiene, Center for Studies in Preventive Medicine, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Ioana Tuta-Sas: Department 14 Microbiology, Discipline of Hygiene, Center for Studies in Preventive Medicine, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Radu Bagiu: Department 14 Microbiology, Discipline of Hygiene, Center for Studies in Preventive Medicine, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Zoran Laurentiu Popa: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Elena Bernad: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Ioana Mihaela Ciuca: Department of Pediatrics, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Felix Bratosin: Department of Infectious Diseases, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Oana Codruta Miloicov-Bacean: Department 14 Microbiology, Discipline of Hygiene, Center for Studies in Preventive Medicine, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Brigitha Vlaicu: Department 14 Microbiology, Discipline of Hygiene, Center for Studies in Preventive Medicine, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Amadeus Dobrescu: Department of General Surgery, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 6, 1-10

Abstract: Around 20% of couples worldwide are affected by infertility issues, with numbers in the European Union reaching as high as 25%, while access to reproductive care varies significantly by geopolitical and country-specific variables. The purpose of this research is to shed light on the unique social, psychological, and financial difficulties faced by Romanian couples seeking access to assisted reproductive therapy (ART). A cross-sectional study was conducted between 2017 and 2019 to involve women who accessed ART at fertility clinics in Romania by completing two infertility surveys. We analyzed the data in terms of all facets of infertility and ART, including the effect of personal background and stress levels on succeeding to conceive, the impact of treatment costs, and household income. A total of 829 participants completed the survey. We observed that high stress exposure leads to a substantially higher duration to conceive using ART, although the proportions of successful pregnancies did not differ between low-stress and high-stress groups. A significantly higher number of couples achieved pregnancy when their monthly household income was higher than EUR 1000 and if the ART method was more expensive. Additionally, we observed that advanced age, high stress levels, and the high cost of ART had a negative association with achieving pregnancy using ART. The findings indicated that Romanian couples experiencing infertility must contend with significant expenses for specialist infertility treatments, as well as treatment-related stress, both of which have a detrimental effect on their odds of attaining conception.

Keywords: assisted reproductive treatment; female infertility; access to treatment; psychological impact (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/6/3256/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/6/3256/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:6:p:3256-:d:767985

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().