Association of chronotype and depressive symptoms in Chinese infertile
population undergoing assisted reproductive technology
Abstract
Objective: To assess the association between chronotype and
depressive symptoms in an infertile population undergoing assisted
reproductive technology. Design: Cross-sectional study.
Setting: The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical
University Reproductive Medicine Center in Hefei, China.
Population: 1022 infertile patients who sought assisted
reproductive technology at the Center between August and October 2022,
were assessed for inclusion in this study. Methods: On the day
of ovulation injection, we collected socio-demographics by inviting
infertile patients to complete questionnaires and assessed the subjects’
chronotypes through the Morning and Evening Questionnaire-5 Items
(MEQ-5). Main Outcome Measures: Depressive symptoms, assessed
with validated Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and expressed as
PHQ-9 scores. Results: Overall, 9%, 68%, and 22% of
participants were categorized as evening, neutral, and morning
chronotypes, respectively. There were significant differences between
chronotype on levels of depressive symptoms, subjects with morning
chronotype (odds ratios = 0.32, 95% confidence intervals: 0.18-0.57)
and neutral chronotype (odds ratios = 0.47, 95% confidence intervals:
0.28-0.77) had lower odds of depressive status, compared to those with
evening chronotype, but no partner effect of chronotype was found (
p >0.05, respectively). Conclusions: Our
findings suggest that morning and neutral chronotypes may be
significantly associated with a lower likelihood of depressive symptoms.
In addition, the effect of earlier chronotypes in men on depressive
symptoms in women warrants relevant clinical attention when considering
treatment.