The Impact of Distress on the IVF Outcome

December 19, 2017 updated by: Boston IVF

Stress is a primary reason why in vitro fertilization (IVF) patients drop out of treatment, and it may have a detrimental impact on pregnancy rates, yet there is minimal published research on the efficacy of structured skills-based psychological interventions with assisted reproductive technology (ART) patients. The objective of this study is to determine if women who are randomized to a mind/body (MB) program prior to starting their first IVF cycle will have higher pregnancy rates than controls (C).

This is a randomized, controlled prospective study conducted at a private academically-affiliated infertility clinic and includes 143 women ages 40 and below scheduled to undergo their first IVF cycle. Subjects are randomized via computer generated random numbers table to a 10 session mind/body program or a control group and followed for two IVF cycles. The primary outcome measure is clinical pregnancy rate.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

143

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Waltham, Massachusetts, United States, 02451
        • Boston IVF

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

21 years to 40 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Female Boston IVF infertility patient
  • Age 21-40 years
  • Day 3 FSH level 12 mIU/ml or below
  • Day 3 E2 level 80 pg/ml or below
  • Using own eggs (not an egg donor)
  • Daily access to the internet
  • Able to read, understand, and sign the informed consent in English

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Prescription antipsychotic medication
  • Diagnosis of borderline or narcissistic personality disorder
  • Previous participation in a MB group

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: Control (Spa Certificate)
For every three months in the study control subjects received $50 spa gift certificates.
Behavioral: Control
Spa gift certificates
Experimental: Mind/Body Program
Ten week group mind/body program. Skills include relaxation training, cognitive strategies, and lifestyle modifications.
Behavioral: Mind/Body Program
Ten week group mind/body program

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Clinical Pregnancy Rates
Time Frame: 1 year
Presence of normal fetal heart rate and fetal size at 7 weeks gestation.
1 year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pregnancy Rate Based on Psychological Status Assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)
Time Frame: 1 year
Psychological status is assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The scores range from 0 to 63; a score of 0 being no depression and 63 being severely depressed. Our cut-off for normal was a score of 12 or less, and those with a score of 13 or greater were considered to have symptoms of depression.
1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Boston IVF

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Alice D Domar, PhD, Boston IVF

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

March 1, 2007

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2009

Study Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2009

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 13, 2010

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 14, 2010

First Posted (Estimate)

April 15, 2010

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 18, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 19, 2017

Last Verified

December 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 20070076

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Subscribe