[Safety of the offspring conceived by assisted reproductive technology with cryopreserved donor sperm]

To investigate the pregnancy outcomes of assisted reproductive technology (ART) with cryopreserved donor sperm and the safety of the offspring thus conceived.

The Human Sperm Bank of CITIC Xiangya Hospital provided cryopreserved donor semen to 31 reproductive centers in China between January 2006 and December 2012, with which 50247 ART cycles were accomplished. We compared the rates of birth defects and spontaneous abortion of intracervical insemination (ICI), intrauterine insemination (IUI), in vitro fertilization (IVF), and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

A total of 39 047 ART cycles were performed by artificial insemination with cryopreserved donor sperm, including 36 674 cycles of ICI and 2 372 cycles of IUI. Among the 8 612 clinical pregnancies achieved by ICI, there were 917 cases of spontaneous abortion (at <28 gestational wk) (10.6%) and 6133 live births, with 43 cases of birth defect (0.70%). Of the 547 clinical pregnancies achieved by IUI, there were 41 cases of spontaneous abortion (7.5%) and 426 live births, with 2 cases of birth defect (0.47%). Totally, 11 200 cycles of IVF and ICSI were accomplished with cryopreserved donor sperm. Of the 5 860 clinical pregnancies achieved by IVF, there were 456 cases of spontaneous abortion (7.8%) and 5089 live births, with 55 cases of birth defect (1.08%). Among the 350 clinical pregnancies achieved by ICSI, there were 30 cases of spontaneous abortion (8.6%) and 229 live births, with 3 cases of birth defect (1.31%). The birth defect rate of ART with cryopreserved donor sperm was significantly lower than that published by the Chinese Ministry of Health (0.86% vs 1.53%,P<0.01).

The safety of the offspring conceived by ART with cryopreserved donor sperm is controllable.