Does egg-sharing negatively impact on the chance of the donor or recipient achieving a live birth?

Figures & data

Table 1. Stimulation characteristics and cycle outcomes.

	Patient group				p–values between groups
	1	2	3	4	1 v 2	3 v 4	1 v 3
Number of patients	670	2777	765	333	–	–	–
Number of stimulation cycles started	756	3293	906	361	–	–	–
Mean age ± SD	31.44 ± 3.43	32.29 ± 3.26	43.04 ± 3.17	42.18 ± 3.43	0.121 (NS)^a	0.318 (NS)^a	p < 0.001^a
Duration of infertility (years) ± SD	2.72 ± 2.46	2.40 ± 1.79	4.07 ± 1.87	3.98 ± 2.03	0.247 (NS)^a	0.227 (NS)^a	p < 0.001^a
Mean number of oocytes collected ± SD	15.34 ± 6.13	14.17 ± 6.21	NA	NA	0.109 (NS)^a	–	–
Mean number of oocytes donated ± SD	7.37 ± 2.92	NA	NA	NA	–	–	–
Mean number of oocytes received	NA	NA	6.61 ± 2.18)	9.31 ± 2.98	–	p < 0.001^a	–
Mean total gonadotrophin dose (IU) ± SD	2560.29 ± 1079.6	2496.81 ± 1187.2	NA	NA	0.115 (NS)^a	–	–
Mean days of stimulation ± SD	11.95 ± 2.32	11.63 ± 2.65	NA	NA	0.414 (NS)^a	–	–
Mean number of oocytes used in IVF ± SD	6.87 ± 3.27	11.41 ± 6.29	NA	NA	p < 0.001^a	–	–
Mean number of day 3 embryos ± SD	4.52 ± 2.81	7.43 ± 4.84	4.50 ± 2.18	6.20 ± 3.45	p < 0.001^a	p < 0.001^a	0.376 (NS)^a
Mean number of embryos transferred ± SD	1.25 ± 0.71	1.17 ± 0.70	1.38 ± 0.89	1.26 ± 0.92	0.347 (NS)^a	0.107 (NS)^a	0.111 (NS)^a
Mean FR (%)	78.02	74.73	71.4	72.8	0.091 (NS)^b	0.376 (NS)^b	0.094 (NS)^b
Mean IR (%)	44.32	43.94	44.7	45	0.459 (NS)^b	0.289 (NS)^b	0.314 (NS)^b
CPR per ET (%)	63.61	60.51	57	59.7	0.114 (NS)^b	0.385 (NS)^b	0.092 (NS)^b
MR per ET (%)	22.91	24.71	26.5	30.6	0.420 (NS)^b	0.263 (NS)^b	0.184 (NS)^b
LBR per ET (%)	49.10	45.61	41.9	41.4	0.085 (NS)^b	0.881 (NS)^b	p < 0.05^b
CLBR per stimulation cycle (%)	51.72	55.60	51.3	62.7	p < 0.05^b	p < 0.001^b	0.844 (NS)^b

Key: 1 = egg share donors; 2 = standard IVF patients; 3 = egg-sharing recipients; 4 = non-egg-sharing recipients. SD = standard deviation; NA = not applicable; NS = not statistically significant (p > 0.05); FR = fertilisation rate; IR = implantation rate; CPR = clinical pregnancy rate; MR = miscarriage rate; LBR = live birth rate; CLBR = cumulative live birth rate ^aStatistically significant p value using ANOVA test ^bStatistically significant p value using Pearson’s χ²test.

Figure 1. Bar graphs comparing (i) the mean number of oocytes used in treatment; (ii) the mean number of day 3 embryos available for transfer; and (iii) the number of embryos transferred for (i) egg sharers; (ii) standard IVF patients; (iii) egg share recipients; (iv) non-egg share recipients. One-way ANOVA tests were conducted to investigate statistical significance. All data is represented as mean ± SD.

Figure 2. Graphs demonstrating the fertilisation rate and implantation rate between (i) egg sharers; (ii) standard IVF patients; (iii) egg share recipients; (iv) non-egg share recipients. Analysis was performed using Pearson’s chi-squared test. No comparisons reached statistical significance.

Figure 3. A series of graphs showing the different pregnancy outcomes between (i) egg sharers; (ii) standard IVF patients; (iii) egg share recipients; (iv) non-egg share recipients. Analysis was performed using Pearson’s chi-squared test. Statistically different results were identified in LBR between egg sharers and egg share recipients (p < 0.001) and in CLBR between egg sharers and egg share recipients (p < 0.05), and egg share recipients and non-egg share recipients (p < 0.001).

Table 2. A table comparing the numbers of oocytes collected by egg-sharers in stimulation cycles (n = 756), according to different minimum theoretical thresholds.

Minimum no. of oocytes	Proportion of stimulation cycles producing sufficient number of oocytes
<8	3.4% (26/756)
≥8	96.5% (730/756)
≥12	70.5% (533/756)
≥15	46.6% (352/756)