A follow-up study of the long-term satisfaction, reproductive experiences, and self-reported health status of oocyte donors in Spain

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the health of oocyte donors and explain how they regard their experience in the long-term.

Materials and methods: This is a cross-sectional study in a single fertility centre that consists of a telephone interview guided by a semi-structured questionnaire covering several aspects of reproductive health and personal experience.

Results: At the time of interview, 84 out of 121 women (69%) had children while 64 (53%) were already mothers at the time of their donation. Of the 38 women achieving a pregnancy after donation, five reported six pregnancy complications. Two out of 121 (2%) women reported being in menopause (aged 41 and 45). Twenty-three women (19%) reported gynaecological issues and eight (7%) reported fertility problems, although only four consulted a specialist. Most of women highlighted positive feelings about their donation (113, 93%) and 155 (97%) would recommend donating. Less than half (53, 44%) mentioned some negative aspects, mainly related to physical discomfort: injections (20,17%), pain (17, 14%), and side effects of ovarian stimulation (10, 8%).

Conclusion: The impact of donation on women’s life was mostly favourable, with the majority of participants reporting positive aspects and recommending donation, although some negative feelings as physical discomfort also arose. Therefore, more comfortable stimulation protocols could be developed.

摘要

目的：本研究目的在于评估卵子捐赠者的健康水平和解释从长远的角度他们是如何看待这次经历的。

材料和方法：这是一项在单个生育中心进行的横断面研究, 通过电话随访的形式, 完成涉及生殖健康和个人经历若干方面的半结构式问卷调查。

结果：在随访过程中, 121名女性中有84名（69%）有孩子, 其中64名(53%)在捐献卵子时已经成为母亲。在38名捐献卵子后怀孕的妇女中, 有5人报告有6例妊娠并发症。121名（2%）女性中有两名报告处于更年期（41岁和45）。23名女性（19%）报告了有妇科问题, 8名女性（7%）报告了生育问题, 但只有4名咨询了专家。大多数女性对自己的捐赠持积极态度（113, 93%）, 155人（97%）会推荐卵子捐赠。不到一半的人（53, 44%）提到了一些负面因素, 主要与身体不适有关, 包括：注射（20, 17%）、疼痛（17, 14%）和卵巢刺激的副作用（10, 8%）。

结论：卵子捐献对妇女生活的影响大部分是良好的, 尽管有些负面的身体不适感随着卵子捐献而产生, 但大多数参加者报告的是积极的方面, 并建议行卵子捐献。因此, 可以对卵子捐献开发更舒适的刺激方案。

Keywords:

• Oocyte donation
• donor fertility
• reproductive health
• anonymous donation
• donation experience

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Sarai Brazal and Soukaina Benmessoud for handling the questionnaires and the database of the study.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.