Follow-up study of anonymous ovum donors

A follow-up study was conducted to determine the emotional and medical responses of anonymous ovum donors to participation in an ovum donation procedure. Medically, donors reported significant discomfort, particularly relating to bloating, immediately prior to retrieval and for a brief period following retrieval. However, donors indicated that these effects no longer persisted at the time of follow-up. They also mentioned how unusual and initially anxiety-arousing it was to be in charge of their own injections. Few donors reported serious adverse emotional responses; many reported positive emotional responses to participation. Donors felt proud of their contribution, talked about their participation with friends and relatives, would be willing to participate again and would recommend ovum donation to other women. However, since the sample included only 43% of the 74 women who donated, caution is necessary in generalizing from the results of our study.