[Safety evaluation of the offspring conceived by assisted reproductive technology with donor's semen]

To investigate and compare the incidences of birth defects in the offspring conceived by assisted reproductive technology (ART), including artificial insemination with the donor's semen (AID), in vitro fertilization with donor's semen (IVF-D) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection with the donor's semen (ICSI-D), and in those conceived through ART with the husband's semen, including AIH, IVF and ICSI, in order to further evaluate the safety of ART with the donor's semen.

From January 2005 to October 2009, Shanghai Human Sperm Bank provided sperm copies to 11 medical institutions, which resulted in a total of 904 offspring born by ART. We followed up all these cases and investigated the status of the offspring. The control group included 4195 offspring of infertile couples from 4 Reproductive Medical Centers approved by health management administrations, which were conceived by ART in the same period. After investigating the number of offspring and cases of birth defects caused by various methods of assisted reproductive technology, we compared the incidence of birth defects resulting from the donor's semen and that from the husband's.

There were 7 cases of birth defects (0.77%) in the offspring born by ART with the donor's semen, and 42 cases (1.00%) in those born by ART with the husband's semen, with no significant differences between the two groups (P > 0.05).

There were no significant differences in the category of birth defects between ART with the donor's semen and that with the husband's, while the incidence of birth defects resulting from ART with the donor's semen was significantly lower than that from ICSI in infertile couples. The present findings indicate a higher safety of ART with the donor's semen.