Outcome of assisted reproductive technology (ART) and subsequent self-reported life satisfaction.

Objective: To compare life satisfaction between women with successful or unsuccessful outcome after assisted reproductive treatment (ART) by taking into account the time since the last ART.

Design: Cohort study.

Setting: Tertiary hospital.

Patients: A total of 987 consecutive women who had undergone ART during 1996-2007 were invited and altogether 505 women participated in the study.

Interventions: A postal enquiry with a life satisfaction scale.

Main Outcome Measure: Self-reported life satisfaction in respect to the time since the last ART.

Results: In general, women who achieved a live birth after ART had a significantly higher life satisfaction than those who had unsuccessful ART, especially when compared in the first three years. The difference disappeared in the time period of 6-9 years after ART. The unsuccessfully treated women who had a child by some other means before or after the unsuccessful ART had comparable life satisfaction with successfully treated women even earlier.

Conclusions: Even if unsuccessful ART outcome is associated with subsequent lower level of life satisfaction, it does not seem to threaten the long-term wellbeing.