Objective To assess self-perceived mental health in women treated with in vitro fertilisation (IVF) 20–23 years previously, while comparing them to a reference group, and to determine any differences in mental health between those who had given birth, those who had adopted a child, those who had given birth and adopted a child and those who remained childless.

Design A cross-sectional study.

Setting A Center of Reproductive Medicine (RMC) at a Swedish University hospital.

Participants 520 women who had undergone at least one IVF cycle at the University Hospital in Linköping between 1986 and 1989. 504 of 520 women (97%) were eligible for follow-up. While 34 women declined, 93 per cent (n=470) of the women agreed to participate. The reference group consisted of 150 women of the Swedish population included in a study that was used to validate the Symptom CheckList (SCL)-90.

Interventions Follow-up was conducted in 2008–2009. The SCL-90 was used to measure the women's self-perceived mental health and a questionnaire specific for this study was used to retain demographic information.

Outcome measures The SCL-90 assesses 9 primary dimensions; somatisation, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation and psychoticism. There is also a global index of distress.

Results Women who had previously undergone IVF treatment were at increased risk of symptoms of depression (p=0.017), obsessive-compulsion (p=0.02) and somatisation (p≤0.001) when compared to a reference group. In addition, the women who have remained childless are at increased risk of symptoms of depression (p=0.009) and phobic anxiety (p=0.017).

Conclusions The majority of the women who have been treated with IVF 20–23 years previously appear to be in good mental health. However, women who remain childless and/or without partner after unsuccessful infertility treatment constitute a vulnerable group even later on in life.