Trauma exposure of infertile populations in Shanghai: The importance of adverse childhood experiences

Abstract Background Accumulating evidence indicates that infertile individuals are often associated with poor mental health. However, there are few studies focus on the trauma exposure of infertile individuals. Meanwhile, adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are often associated with poor mental health, especially the development of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the condition of traumatic exposure and the prevalence of PTSS in people with infertile in Shanghai, and then explore the effect of ACE among infertile people of childbearing age who reported experiencing trauma exposure. Methods The cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2021 to September 2022. A total of 213 infertile patients in Shanghai Changzheng Hospital were selected by random sampling. After screening, a total of 194 experimental data were obtained. The participants filled out the demographic questionnaires, self-developed trauma exposure questionnaire. Childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ) and the primary care PTSD screen for DSM-5 (PC-PTSD-5) were used to investigate ACE and PTSS, respectively. Results Traumatic events were experienced in 41.8% of infertility patients. Only 4.10% of infertile patients had PTSS. Maternal education level (p = 0.019) had significant influence on whether PTSS occurred in patients. Logistic regression analysis indicated age, emotional abuse (EA) and physical neglect (PN) increased the probability of patients reporting trauma exposure, while emotional neglect (EN) reduced the possibility of reporting trauma. Conclusions Undesirable the high incidence of traumatic experience of infertility population, especially ACE, has an important impact on their treatment and recovery at the moment, as well as the future development of mental health. More evidence between PTSS and trauma exposure are needed in the future to strengthen this conclusion.