Analysis of influencing factors for social avoidance and distress among infertile patients based on LASSO and XGBoost algorithms.

OBJECTIVE: Infertility negatively impacts mental health and quality of life, with social avoidance and distress (SAD) being a key but underrecognized issue. This study aims to analyze SAD risk factors in infertility patients. METHODS: A retrospective study of 205 infertility patients (October 2022-July 2025) was divided into SAD (n = 93) and non-SAD (n = 112) groups. LASSO regression and XGBoost identified key variables, followed by logistic regression and ROC analysis. RESULTS: Significant differences (P < 0.05) were found in age, education, residence, income, infertility stigma scale (ISS), self-esteem scale (SES), cognitive dismantling scale (CD-RISC) and social relationship quality scale (SRQS) scores. Five common factors (age, ISS, SES, CD-RISC, SRQS) were identified. Logistic regression showed age (OR = 1.333) and ISS (OR = 1.101) as risk factors, while SES (OR = 0.726), CD-RISC (OR = 0.876) and SRQS (OR = 0.863) were protective (P < 0.05). AUC values ranged 0.694-0.723, showing only modest discriminative ability. CONCLUSION: SAD in infertility patients is independently associated with age, ISS, SES, CD-RISC and SRQS scores, each with moderate predictive value. These findings support the application of the above indicators for early identification and risk assessment of SAD among infertile populations.