Embryo donation: outcome and attitudes among embryo donors and recipients

The outcome of an embryo donation programme was evaluated and attitudes among donors and recipients studied by means of a questionnaire survey. A total of 27 couples went through 54 treatment cycles with frozen-thawed embryos donated by other infertile couples. The indications for treatment were premature or incipient ovarian failure in combination with severe male factor infertility. The mean age of the recipient women was 36 years, and that of the recipient men was 35 years. The mean duration of infertility was 8 years (range 2-19 years). Forty-six couples donated 209 excess frozen embryos to the programme. The clinical pregnancy rate in the recipients was 27.8% (15/54) per embryo transfer. An average of 1.9 embryos were transferred on each occasion. The response rate to the questionnaire was high (80-91%). Significantly more recipients (69%) than donors (47%) considered that the child should be informed about the manner of conception (P < 0.05). Some 29% of recipients and 42% of donors thought that the child should receive identifying information concerning the donor couple. The interest of the offspring, not only as regards knowing his/her genetic origin but also knowing full-blood genetic siblings, should be kept in mind in embryo donation programmes.