Psychological and Psychosexual Effects of Tubal Sterilization

This study was designed to investigate depression, anxiety, postoperation regret and sexual changes in sterilized women referring to health centers of Tabriz, Iran. Data were available from 150 women who sterilized during 1-10 years ago and 150 non-sterilized women as control group. Anxiety rate in the case group was significantly more than the control group (p = 0.03). Poststerilization regret rate was 6% which had relation with women`s conflict with their husbands concerning decision making before sterilization. Over 75% of 150 sterilized women reported no consistent change in either sexual aspect. Among women with consistent change, negative effects were reported 2 and 5 times more often than positive effects. Insufficient poststerilization rest was a significant risk factor for depression and anxiety. Although most women expressed no regret after sterilization, when there was substantial conflict between a woman and her husband before sterilization, the probability of expressing regret was increased. Tubal sterilization is unlikely to result in changed sexual aspects. Among those with change, the majority experienced negative sexual effects.