Medical expert of the article
New publications
IVF procedure provokes sex problems
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Scientists from Indiana University have discovered that in vitro fertilization negatively affects the sex life of spouses.
“For people struggling with infertility, the pleasure of sex often takes a back seat to fertilization,” says Nicole Smith, a specialist at the Indiana University Center for Sexual Health. “Couples often report feeling like they’re on lab tests when hormones are administered and they have to schedule sex. It’s stressful, and there’s no romance involved. And as we know, the relationship suffers.”
This study is one of the first in the United States. The specialists set out to study the sexual experience of women during assisted reproductive procedures. To assess the impact of IVF on sexual relations of couples, the specialists used questionnaires.
Compared with healthy women, women undergoing IVF reported decreased interest in intimate relationships. They often had difficulty achieving orgasm, as well as vaginal pain and lack of vaginal lubrication.
The cooling of relations also occurred in the emotional closeness of the partners and intensified as the IVF course progressed.
When couples met with their doctor, the first thing they discussed was problems in their sex life. According to Dr. Smith, it is very important that spouses do not hesitate to discuss problems with the doctor, because in this way the problem can be eliminated at the very beginning, but if you delay its solution, then dissatisfaction will only worsen and the relationship can deteriorate completely. If problems arise with the lack or insufficient amount of lubrication, then the doctor recommends using special means, for example, lubricant. If tension is observed not only in sex, but also in relationships, then a psychologist and sexologist will help resolve the situation.
"Often the cause of such problems is ignorance of how infertility and its treatment affect relationships," the study authors say. "Therefore, an important part of assisted reproductive technologies is to provide help and support to couples who need to understand that they are not alone and that their problems are a consequence of the process they are going through."
The study involved 270 women and men.
[