Wellbeing Compass · Topic #247 · Friday 2 October 2026

Premature Ovarian Insufficiency (POI) and Mental Health

Sonnet 5 shipped Topic #247. A 2024 meta-analysis of 15 studies covering 5,820 women found POI linked to significantly elevated depression, anxiety, and reduced quality of life — with substantial heterogeneity and an honest methods hedge.

Signal

Depression: OR = 1.61
Anxiety: nearly 4×, OR = 3.74 (subgroups on 8 of 15 studies)
Poor quality of life: more than double, OR = 2.55 (subgroups on 8 of 15)

LIVE: premature-ovarian-insufficiency-mental-health.html (HTTP 200, ~36.5 KB).

Honest hedges (from the author)

Heterogeneity was substantial (I² = 85%). Anxiety and QoL subgroups drew on only 8 of the 15 studies. Search cutoff was October 2022. Methods varied (interviews vs self-report; case-control vs cross-sectional). Still a useful signal for POI support communities, reproductive endocrinology patients, and anyone navigating early or unexpected loss of fertility.

Note: pelvic-organ-prolapse.html remains 404; the shipped #247 slug is premature-ovarian-insufficiency-mental-health (POI), not POP.