The impact of frozen embryos on emotional reactions during in vitro fertilization

Background. Emotional reactions of couples were investigated during in vitro fertilization (IVF) at a private clinic in Sweden. The purpose was to compare such reactions between couples who obtained supernumerary embryos that could be cryopreserved and couples without such embryos. Methods. Forty women and men undergoing IVF treatment monitored individually their emotional reactions daily for one complete treatment cycle from the first day of down-regulation until the outcome of treatment was known. Ratings were extracted and analyzed from two separate days: the very first day of treatment and the day of embryo transfer. Results. The group of women (n=16; 40%) with supernumerary embryos suitable for cryopreservation reported a greater increase in optimism than the group (n=24; 60%) without such embryos (p=0.024). Correspondingly. women with supernumerary embryos reported less pessimism than women without such embryos (p=0.014). Among men there was no difference in optimism or pessimism between the groups. The women and men with supernumerary embryos did not differ in distress reactions compared to those women and men without such embryos, There was no correlation between optimism and distress on the day of embryo transfer in women; r=-0.167 and men, r=-0.135 respectively. Conclusion. The presence of frozen embryos increased optimistic and reduced pessimistic feelings about pregnancy among women undergoing IVF treatment. However, the couples' increased optimism on the day of embryo transfer did not seem to reduce their experience of distress.