Ethnic and demographic variation in consenting for research in the context of fertility treatment

A retrospective service evaluation was conducted in a tertiary fertility clinic to assess factors influencing the inclinations of individuals to consent for their information to be used for research (non-contact research) and their willingness to be contacted for future research studies (contact research). Self-reported data on ethnicity and country of birth were obtained from the HFEA registration forms of 18,384 patients undergoing fertility treatment. Socio-economic deprivation was assessed using the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) determined by postcode. Analysis of data indicated that 24% were of non-white ethnicity, 32% had been born overseas and 46% resided in more deprived areas. Non-white patients were significantly less likely to consent to research than white patients (contact research: aOR 0.36, 95% CI 0.33 to 0.39; non-contact research: aOR 0.35, 95% CI 0.32 to 0.38), as were patients born overseas (contact research: aOR 0.86, 95% CI 0.79 to 0.94; non-contact research: aOR 0.89, 95% CI 0.82 to 0.97), and those living in more deprived areas (contact research: aOR 0.85, 95% CI 0.80 to 0.91; non-contact research: aOR 0.79, 95% CI 0.74 to 0.85). The findings indicate that ethnicity, country of birth and socio-economic factors are independently associated with willingness to participate in research.