Fertility under uncertainty: exploring differences in fertility-related concerns and psychosocial aspects between breast cancer survivors and non-cancer infertile women.

BACKGROUND

The threat to fertility due to anticancer treatments can be distressing to women who wish to complete their family. The current study assessed the fertility-related concerns, psychological distress and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of breast cancer survivors in comparison to non-cancer women with infertility history and to healthy controls from the general population.

METHODS

We surveyed young adult women aged 18 to 40 who wished to have a (or another) biological child. Participants completed self-report measures assessing fertility concerns, anxiety, depression and physical, emotional, role and social functioning. Group differences were assessed using multivariate comparisons as well as univariate tests and discriminant analysis for individual measures.

RESULTS

A total of 136 women were recruited, of whom 43 were breast cancer survivors, 56 non-cancer infertile women and 37 healthy controls. Considering the female cancer survivors as the focus of the analysis, data suggested that these women presented identical concerns to the non-cancer infertile group and higher than the healthy women with regard to fertility potential (p < 0.01). However, women diagnosed with cancer reported worse HRQoL than their counterparts, showing lower scores in physical functioning (p < 0.05) than infertile women and lower role (p < 0.05) and social HRQoL (p < 0.01) than the controls. Anxiety and depressive symptoms did not differ between the three groups.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that living with uncertainty about reproductive potential after cancer can be a disruptive experience. Breast cancer survivors and infertile women are at risk of future emotional maladjustments, given the reported level of fertility concern.