How do men in the United Kingdom decide to dispose of banked sperm following cancer treatment?

Abstract

Current policy in the UK recommends that men bank sperm prior to cancer treatment, but very few return to use it for reproductive purposes or agree to elective disposal even when their fertility recovers and their families are complete. We assessed the demographic, medical and psychological variables that influence the decision to dispose by contacting men (n = 499) who banked sperm more than five years previously, and asked them to complete questionnaires about their views on sperm banking, fertility and disposal. From 193 responses (38.7% response rate), 19 men (9.8%) requested disposal within four months of completing the questionnaire. Compared with men who wanted their sperm to remain in storage, they were significantly more confident that their fertility had recovered (OR = 1.78, 95% CI = 1.05–3.03, p = 0.034), saw fertility monitoring (semen analysis) as less important (OR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.39–0.94, p = 0.026), held more positive attitudes to disposal (OR = 5.71, 95% CI = 2.89–11.27, p < 0.001), were more likely to have experienced adverse treatment side-effects (OR = 4.37, CI = 1.61–11.85, p = 0.004) and had less desire for children in the future (OR = 0.41, 95% CI = 0.26–0.64, p < 0.001). Information about men's reasons to dispose of banked sperm may be helpful in devising new strategies to encourage men to engage with sperm banking clinics and make timely decisions about the fate of their samples.

Keywords::

• Cancer
• semen cryopreservation
• male infertility
• psychology

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Debbie Saxton (Sheffield) and Tracey Kohut (Nottingham) for their help with the recruitment procedures. This paper was supported by funding from Cancer Research-UK to CW, AAP and RR (C481/A8141). The views expressed are those of the authors.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no declarations of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.