Difficulties in adaptation to pregnancy following natural conception or use of assisted reproduction techniques: a comparative study.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the influence assisted reproduction techniques (ARTs) may have on women's adaptation to resulting pregnancies. METHODS: Retrospective assessment of how women adapt to their pregnancies following ART. A questionnaire was used that ranked their attitudes according to the 5-grade Likert scale. The study included 250 women who gave birth to their first child. Of these pregnancies, 125 had been obtained by means of ART; the remaining 125 were naturally conceived. RESULTS: Difficulties in adaptation to pregnancy were significantly more frequent in women whose pregnancies resulted from the use of ARTs than in those who had conceived naturally (p = 0.000005). The subjects in the first group were significantly older (p = 0.04), more affluent (p = 0.000005) and had more frequently interrupted their professional work than women in the latter group. The two groups did not differ with regard to frequency of hospitalisations. CONCLUSIONS: ART significantly increases difficulties in adaptation to resulting pregnancies. The main factors responsible for these difficulties are age, socio-economic conditions and interruption of professional activity.