Quality of life and its associated factors among sub fertile couples in the Colombo District of Sri Lanka: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction: Pregnancy and motherhood are highly esteemed in Asian cultures. Consequently, subfertility is considered a major life issue for both men and women, which in turn could affect their quality of life (QOL). Objectives: To assess the QOL and its associated factors among the partners of sub fertile couples Methods: To identify the primary and secondary sub fertile couples, this community-based study used a stratified cluster sampling method to recruit 3366 married couples whose 15-49 aged female partners were residing in the Colombo district. Out of the 423 sub fertile couples identified, 384 were successfully interviewed. The Fertility Quality of Life (FertiQoL) tool, developed at Cardiff University was translated and culturally adapted to Sri Lanka to assess their QOL, based on the total score out of 100. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data to assess the associated factors. Results: In this study, median of the total FertiQoL score was 68.3 (IQR: 60.2-77.2) for male partners and 65.2 (IQR: 58.0-73.5) for female partners. Male partners had significantly higher scores than their female partners. Advanced age, longer duration of the marriage, higher level of education, and having at least one living child were found to be significantly associated (p<0.01) with the QOL of sub fertile couples. Conclusions & Recommendations: The QOL was higher among male partners of the sub-fertile couples and male and female partners who had at least one living child. Negatively associated factors such as the age of the couple, duration of the marriage, and not having at least one living child should be prioritized when providing healthcare facilities.

Keywords

• Primary subfertility
• Secondary subfertility
• Quality of life
• Associated factors